Judge Says Fisk University Can’t Sell Donated Art

A judge has said that Fisk University, in Nashville, does not have legal authority to sell two paintings worth millions of dollars and use the proceeds for academic and financial improvements because it goes against the donor’s wishes, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The judge, Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle of the Davidson County Chancery Court, said that the university could not sell any of the 101 pieces of artwork in a collection that the artist Georgia O’Keeffe gave the university nearly 60 years ago.

The collection, which includes works by Cezanne, Picasso, and Renoir, was not meant to generate revenue for Fisk and goes against the donor’s wish that the university use it for art education, Judge Lyle said.

The judge’s decision was based partly on a review of correspondence between Ms. O’Keeffe and the university at the time of the donation.

The university wants to sell two of the paintings — one by Ms. O’Keeffe, and another by Marsden Hartley- and use the proceeds for its endowment, for its mathematics and science departments, and for maintenance projects.

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