The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation is challenging Fisk University’s decision to sell the two most valuable paintings from its famous Steiglitz Collection – O’Keeffe’s “Radiator Building” and Marsden Hartley’s “Painting Number Three.”
Georgia O’Keeffe gave Fisk University 101 pieces of art in 1949. Letters from O’Keeffe indicated she wanted the collection kept intact. And that’s the position the O’Keefe Foundation has taken in challenging the proposed sale.
Fisk Attorney Michael Norton says the university does not contest the fact that O’Keeffe did not want any of the collection sold. But he says there’s legal precedent for circumventing that stipulation.
“The law in Tennessee is, if you can prove your situation has changed substantially and it’s no longer practical or possible to conform to the conditions under which you’ve accepted a charitable gift, the court has the authority to change those conditions and to permit you to do something different.”
Fisk’s position is that it lacks the funds to maintain the artwork. A conference to determine the timetable for the legal proceedings is scheduled to take place next week.
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