Crystal bridges closer to acquiring O'Keeffe art.(NONPROFIT)(Brief article)

A ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals has cleared at least one hurdle to efforts by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to acquire works by painter Georgia O'Keeffe and other important artists.

The court ruled Tuesday that Fisk University in Nashville doesn't have to give up an art collection O'Keeffe donated to the university 60 years ago.

"We are pleased with the court's decision. It represents a significant step forward," Virginia Germann, a museum spokesman, said in a statement e-mailed to ArkansasBusiness.com. "The decision allows the Alfred Stieglitz Collection to remain intact and well-cared for and permits Fisk to proceed with the agreement that would provide a public home for this unique collection."

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News reports said that Crystal Bridges, in Bentonville, had offered Fisk $30 million for a half-interest in the collection of 101 artworks. The university, facing financial difficulties, had asked a lower court to allow Fisk to sell two paintings and share the rest of the collection--which contains works by O'Keeffe; Stieglitz, a renowned photographer to whom O'Keeffe was married; and other artists--with Crystal Bridges.

Fisk had sought to sell O'Keeffe's 1927 painting "Radiator Building--Night, New York," one of her most significant works.

The George O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M., which represents the painter's estate, filed a lawsuit challenging the arrangement, saying that O'Keeffe had asked that the collection be displayed together. The O'Keeffe Museum's suit asked that it receive the collection.

The Appeals Court ruling overturns a lower court's decision, meaning that the case now goes back to Davidson County Chancery Court.

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