Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Not Over (UPDATED 2X)

The Fisk University deaccessioning controversy just got a little more interesting. From the AP tonight:

"Lawyers for the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum ... filed a legal challenge late Monday that seeks to prevent Fisk University from selling a stake in the collection donated by O'Keeffe .... The cash-strapped school wants to sell a 50 percent share of the collection to a museum founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton for $30 million .... The O'Keeffe Museum ... referred in its filing to an earlier finding by Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle that O'Keeffe's 'donation was not given to Fisk to use as a source of revenue.'"

Lyle had promised an expedited ruling on the proposed sale to Walton's Crystal Bridges "later this month."

UPDATE: According to this article in this morning's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Tennessee Attorney is also opposing the sale, "saying that Fisk first wanted to sell only two paintings and now the proposed transaction with Crystal Bridges includes the entire collection."

UPDATE 2: Theo Emery has more in Wednesday's New York Times: "Fisk’s president, Hazel O’Leary, said the university was being 'held hostage' by the litigation. 'Their intention is to bleed us to death,' she said. 'They know that time is not on our side here.'"