A Tennessee judge on Monday strongly suggested she may craft “legal relief” for Fisk University that would put millions of dollars in the school’s coffers while allowing it to retain ownership of the prestigious Alfred Stieglitz Collection of art and photographs, key parts of which the school has been trying to get court permission to sell for nearly two years.

The “legal relief” idea was set forth in a four-page order by Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle of the Chancery Court for the 20^th Judicial District of Tennessee. The order rejected a plan by Fisk and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum of Santa Fe to settle their legal differences over control of the collection by giving the museum a priceless painting by the late Georgia O’Keeffe in exchange for Fisk getting $7.5 million. Fisk would also get an agreement from the museum not to object to what Fisk does with the rest of the 101-piece collection. 

Judge Lyle ordered a full hearing for September 18 on claims by the museum that Fisk should forfeit the entire collection on the grounds it has not maintained and displayed the collection in the manner prescribed in detail by Ms. O’Keeffe when she donated it to the school in the late 1940s. Judge Lyle said there was a risk Fisk could lose the argument that it has complied with the terms of the gift but that would not automatically result in forfeiture of the collection.

”Under New York Law, which applies to this case (O’Keeffe donated the works to Fisk while she was a New York resident), the Court could allow Fisk to retain the Collection while enjoining Fisk from violating the conditions of the gift,” Judge Lyle wrote. “Given the equitable powers of the Court in crafting injunctive relief, the Court could take into account the Crystal Bridges’ proposal,” she said.  By proceeding to trial, she said, “Fisk has a reasonable chance for a solution better than the settlement” proposed by Fisk and the O’Keeffe Museum.