Dispute Over Donated O’Keeffe Paintings Heads Back to Court

As Fisk University looks to sell three valuable paintings to bolster its dwindling endowment, Tennessee’s attorney general has rejected an offer he considered too low, reports The Tennessean.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, named for the painter who donated the works in 1949, has sued Fisk to prevent the sale of the paintings, arguing that Ms. O’Keeffe did not want the collection of paintings broken up. The museum offered the university $7-million for Ms. O’Keeffe’s “Radiator Building,” which has been valued at $20-million to $25-million.

The Tennessee attorney general, Robert Cooper, would not accept the “one-sided” offer because of “the gross disparity between the settlement proposal and the apparent value of the ‘Radiator Building,’” he said. The dispute will now head back to court.

The historically black institution, in Nashville, will continue to look for ways to keep the collection together.