Today was the deadline for the Tennessee Attorney General to come up with a plan to keep the Steiglitz Collection in Nashville, and come up with such a plan he has:
"Under Cooper's plan, the collection would be displayed under contract at Nashville's Frist Center for the Visual Arts. It would be accessible free of charge every day of the week, and would continue to be called the 'Alfred Stieglitz Collection at Fisk University.' The collection would be returned to the school once it can afford to care for and display the art there."
Press release from the AG's office here.
This of course does nothing (or very little) for Fisk, but, as we all know, benefitting Fisk was not part of O'Keeffe's intent when she gave the Collection to Fisk. She could care less about Fisk! In fact she hated Fisk! What she really cared about was the People of Nashville. If Fisk goes under, hey, stuff happens. Not our problem. Our problem -- as Lovers of Art -- is to see to it that the donor's intent is always satisfied. And obviously in this case O'Keeffe would have preferred that the works be shown at the Frist Center than have Fisk share the Collection with the Crystal Bridges Museum. So this is a Good Day For Art: the works will be leaving Fisk, but instead of going to Museum A, they will be going to Museum B, which is much better. Obviously.
