Fisk University Completes Agreement to Share Its Stieglitz Art Collection

Fisk University announced that it has reached a final agreement to share its Stieglitz Art Collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

After a legal battle that has lasted nearly eight years, in April The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that it would not hear an appeal of a decision by the Court of Appeals which allowed Fisk University to share its collection. The courts had originally held up the deal because Georgia O’Keeffe, who donated the art collection, which includes many of her works, to the university, stipulated that the art could not be sold. Fisk University maintained that it needed to generate funds from this valuable asset to remain financially viable.

Now Fisk and the museum have reached an agreement on how the collection will be shared. The art will remain at Fisk until the fall of 2013. It will then be displayed at the museum for a two-year period. Subsequently, the collection will rotate between the two institutions every two years.

Under the agreement, Fisk received a $30 million payment from the museum. The ownership of the title of the collection will be placed in a new limited liability corporation that will be owned by the museum and the university in equal shares.

Fisk will use nearly $6 million of the payment to pay for its legal fees associated with the eight-year battle to share or sell the collection. Slightly more than $1.6 million will be used to settle local bank obligations. About $2.2 million will be allocated to current operating needs and more than $15 million will be added to the university’s endowment. Another $5 million is being set aside for initiatives that will be decided by the next president of the university. Fisk is currently searching for a new president.

Related Articles

1 COMMENT

  1. Sad sad sad. Stunned that the alumni of this great institution would allow Hazel O’Leary to remain at FisK long enough to complete the almost total destruction of what was a great college. She has now given away Fisk’s greatest asset and then resigns leaving the school worse off than it was before she became it’s president.

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

California State University Sacramento Launches Black Honors College

Officially launching for the fall 2024 semester, the Black Honors College will support students from all backgrounds who study Black history, life, and culture by providing them with a specialized curriculum and mentoring opportunities.

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

In Memoriam: Norman B. Anderson, 1955-2024

Dr. Anderson was the assistant vice president for research and academic affairs at Florida State University at the time of his death. He had an extensive career in clinical psychology, which led him to become the first African American chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association.

Georgia State University Launches Program to Support Black Women in Tech

While Black women account for roughly 29 percent of the Georgia State University undergradaute student body, they represent only 10 percent of the university's computer science majors and 18 percent of the computer information systems majors.

Featured Jobs