Fisk University president Hazel O'Leary has told a court that the financially struggling college now has money to renovate a gallery to house a prized art collection donated by painter Georgia O'Keeffe.more>> The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is arguing that Fisk University should forfeit a prized art collection donated by the famous painter. A trial to determine the fate of the 101-piece collection began Tuesday morning. more>> The Tennessee attorney general has asked a judge to push back a February trial date to determine if Fisk University can sell a 50 percent share of an $30 million. more>> Despite two years of trying, Fisk University hasn't been able to turn any of the valuable art donated by painter Georgia O'Keeffe into cash. more>> Fisk University began as Fisk Free Colored School, one of several schools founded for freedmen during the Union military occupation of Nashville. Fisk was the first historically black college or university to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the first HBCU to be granted a charter for the establishment of a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. more>>
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A judge has ruled that Fisk University broke the terms of a donation from painter Georgia O'Keeffe but shouldn't lose its art collection to a New Mexico museum.
Nashville Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle placed a permanent ban on Fisk selling the 101-piece collection and set a deadline for when the historically black university must retrieve the artwork from storage and put it on display.
Lyle had rejected several previous attempts by the cash-strapped school to sell artworks, including O'Keeffe's signature 1927 oil painting "Radiator Building -- Night, New York."
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in New Mexico had sued to gain the rights over the collection because of the schools' attempts to sell paintings and because they weren't on display.
The Santa Fe museum is the legal representative of the artist's estate.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
