The Never-Ending Legal Battle Over the Fisk University Art Collection

Fisk University announced that it will appeal the decision of the Tennessee chancellery judge which not only prohibited the university from selling any piece from its Georgia O’Keeffe collection but also ordered the university to put the works on display. The artwork was placed in storage in 2005 because the exhibition gallery where it was displayed had fallen into disrepair.

Fisk says that if it is obligated to display the collection the paintings may be put at risk due to unsafe conditions in its exhibit space.

For several years Fisk has been trying to sell one or two of the paintings in order to raise operating funds. But the terms of the original donation to the university stipulated that the 101-piece collection remain intact.

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