Financially troubled Fisk University says it plans to stick with the Arkansas-based Crystal Bridges Museum in trying to win court approval of a shared ownership deal for the 101-piece Alfred Stieglitz Collection of photographs and art, despite being barred twice by a Tennessee judge from selling any part of its valuable collection. 

Crystal Bridges, backed by Wal-Mart heir Alice Walton, has offered Fisk $30 million for 50 percent ownership and six months a year exhibition rights of the collection. The offer includes internships, other considerations and provisions that could ultimately give Crystal Bridges complete ownership of the collection over time.

"Fisk's objective remains to fashion an agreement that provides both relief to Fisk and supports the collection," the school says in a statement issued after a Tennessee judge last Friday again barred Fisk from concluding a deal by which Crystal Bridges would acquire 50 percent ownership of the 101-piece Stieglitz Collection "The Fisk-Crystal Bridges agreement does just that by expanding accessibility to the collection to more of the South and providing fiscal relief that we seek to begin rebuilding Fisk's endowment."

Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle, of the Chancery Court of Tennessee, 20th Judicial District, ruled Friday the Fisk-Crystal Bridges agreement violated in numerous ways the legally binding terms of a 50-year-old agreement between Fisk and the collection's donor, the late Georgia O'Keeffe. The O'Keeffe-Fisk agreement bars the sale of the collection and provides only narrow exceptions for it to be loaned.

"The sharing proposal, increasingly popular with galleries and museums across the globe, is an innovative arrangement that is clearly in the best interest of Fisk, Tennessee, and the South," Fisk counters in its statement. "To achieve these ends, we will follow the courses outlined in the chancellor's order," the school said.