NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fisk University broke the terms of a donation from painter Georgia O'Keeffe but shouldn't lose its art collection to a Santa Fe museum, a judge ruled Thursday.

Nashville Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle placed a permanent ban on Fisk's selling the 101-piece collection and set an October deadline for the university to retrieve the artwork from storage and put it on display.

Lyle had rejected several previous attempts by the cash-strapped school to sell artworks, including O'Keeffe's signature 1927 oil painting Radiator Building — Night, New York.

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum had sued to gain the rights over the collection because of the school's attempts to sell paintings and because they weren't currently on display. The Santa Fe museum is the legal representative of the deceased artist's estate.

Fisk could still face losing the collection if it doesn't comply with the judge's order.

Lyle said Fisk was being responsible by keeping the collection in storage since 2005 while upgrading security on campus and renovating the gallery that housed the art.

But Lyle said the school's claims that its financial circumstances would keep it from displaying the artwork if the judge didn't approve a deal to sell a stake to another museum represent a breach of O'Keeffe's gift conditions.

The judge early last month rejected the $30 million arrangement to share the collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Ark. The museum was founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton.

The collection of art belonged to O'Keeffe's husband, the photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz. It includes pieces by O'Keeffe, Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Marsden Hartley, Alfred Maurer and Charles Demuth.

Lyle cited the testimony of Fisk president Hazel O'Leary at trial last month that even if the school can't sell the art that it will display it once the gallery is restored. She also noted the school's improved financial picture following a $1 million grant and other donations.

But Lyle criticized Fisk for waiting to emphasize its ability to care for the collection until after the Arkansas deal fell through. "Fisk has not always been forthright with the court," Lyle said.

Lyle said in the order that she recognizes the school's current financial improvement is a short-trend against the backdrop of decades of instability. But she said it would be too drastic to order the school to forfeit the collection to the O'Keeffe museum.

O'Keeffe donated the art to the historically black university in 1949, a time when segregation laws in the South prevented blacks from visiting many museums. Lyle in her ruling cited O'Keeffe's wishes to make the collection available to the region as a reason not to send the collection to New Mexico.

Saul Cohen, the president of the O'Keeffe Museum, and officials at Fisk didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

Fisk put the art into storage in 2005 because the gallery where it was exhibited was falling apart, and there were fears the works would be damaged.

That same year, Fisk's trustees voted to sell O'Keeffe's Radiator Building and Hartley's Painting No. 3 to help keep the school afloat.

Those efforts got bogged down in court battles over whether the sale would violate the terms of O'Keeffe's bequest, and no deal ever went through.

Experts estimate the two paintings could fetch more than $45 million on the open market, and the entire collection could be worth well more than $100 million.




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