Court Says Fisk U. Can Sell Art Given by Georgia O’Keeffe and Keep the Proceeds

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has ruled that Fisk University can sell a share of its Stieglitz art collection, a gift in the 1940s and 1950s from the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, to a museum in Arkansas, and that the university does not have to dedicate two-thirds of the expected $30-million in proceeds to an endowment for preserving the art, The Tennessean, a Nashville newspaper, reported. A lower court had also ruled in favor of the university, but added the endowment stipulation. The Tennessee attorney general’s office, which opposes the sale because it believes the plan violates O’Keeffe’s wishes, is reviewing the ruling and has not said whether it will appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.