Lee Rosenbaum, in her CultureGrrl Blog today, writes about the judge’s slightly murky ruling about what Fisk University can do with its Stieglitz collection — can it still be sold to Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville? In response to an Association of Art Museum Directors statement on last week’s ruling, CultureGrrl writes:

The court, in fact, has not prohibited Fisk from pursuing the $30-million sale of a half-share of its collection—-a transaction that would not just “undermine” but decimate O’Keeffe’s written no-sale stipulation. What the court did say in its 21-page decision is that it will not “approve the Crystal Bridges Agreement, as written [emphasis added].” …
On pages 13-15 of the above-linked decision, the judge clearly delineates the eight changes that she seeks in the Crystal Bridges deal, the first of which involves insuring that the Bentonville, AR, museum does not eventually acquire more than a half-share in the Stieglitz collection, by lending money to Fisk and “obtain[ing] a security interest in the debtor’s [Fisk’s] undivided 50% interest of the artwork.” She warns of the possibility that, if Fisk were to default on such loans, Crystal Bridges could eventually seize 100% ownership of the collection …

Stay tuned. Will work by Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, Charles DeMuth, and John Marin be available for viewing in Bentonville? (We already know there will be a Hartley: “Hall of the Mountain King,” one of the first acquisitions announced.)

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