Fisk University must make good on a promise to display and care for a priceless collection of art and photographs given it in 1949 by the late Georgia O’Keeffe or it may be forced to surrender the collection to O’Keeffe heirs who have been trying to capture parts of its for more than two years, a Tennessee judge declared Thursday.
In a final memorandum and order that was critical of Fisk attorneys and university President Hazel O’Leary, Tennessee Chancery Court Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle found Fisk had “breached” the covenants governing its possession of the 101-piece Stieglitz Collection. The infractions have not risen, however, to a level that would warrant a court order that Fisk forfeit the works to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum of Santa Fe, N.M., Lyle ruled.
To ensure they don’t, Lyle imposed a “permanent, mandatory injunction” against Fisk with three key provisions. The order prevents Fisk from ever selling the Stieglitz. It gave Fisk an October 6, 2008 deadline to completely remove the collection from storage and return it to display in the Carl Van Vechten Gallery on the Fisk campus. The court also imposed “notice requirements” on Fisk regarding loans of the collection and Fisk’s ability to care for it over the long term.
“Noncompliance with the injunction carries a threat of finding of contempt punishable by fines, payments of damages and attorneys fees, and forfeiture of the collection,” Lyle wrote in her 21-page decision. She noted that one of the “practical effects” of her injunction is that it provides parties who suspect Fisk has again “breached” the conditions “a much shorter and straightforward proceeding” to take the collection from the school.
Officials at Fisk and the O’Keeffe Museum could not be reach late Thursday for comment. At a trial in Nashville last month over their dispute and in earlier statements, spokesmen for both groups said they would appeal Lyle’s ruling, if she did not rule in their favor.
The ruling was a tough blow to the O’Keeffe Museum, successor to Ms. O’Keeffe’s estate. It has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past two years trying to wrest control of key parts of the collection, first by entering a financial deal with Fisk to settle their court dispute then, after a rebuttal by Judge Lyle, seeking outright return of the whole collection.
It was a win and loss for Fisk. It too has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying unsuccessfully to have the court declare Fisk has sole control over the collection so it, Fisk, could sell parts or all of the collection to raise badly needed funds for the school.
