Fisk sells interest in collection

Trustees of financially troubled Fisk University in Nashville have agreed to sell half of the university’s interest in its modern art collection to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, under construction in Bentonville, Ark., for $30 million.

Pending court approval, the joint-ownership agreement would require Fisk and Crystal Bridges -- founded by Wal-Mart heir Alice Walton -- to take equal responsibility for the care, management and public display of the collection. The holding is composed of 97 works given to the university in 1947 by the estate of photographer Alfred Stieglitz and four pieces donated later by painter Georgia O’Keeffe.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M., had made a legal claim on the collection but dropped its lawsuit two weeks ago, after a judge denied a settlement agreement that would have sent a major O’Keeffe painting to the museum.

-- Suzanne Muchnic