In the Arts: Tenn. Appeals Ruling in Fisk Art Sale

Tennessee’s attorney general is appealing a judge’s decision that would allow Nashville’s Fisk University to sell a share of its historic Stieglitz Collection of art, The Tennessean writes.

The cash-strapped institution has said it might be forced to close unless it can capitalize on the 101 works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Monet, Picasso, and other artists left to it by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

In November a chancery court judge ruled that Fisk could sell a half-share of the collection for $30-million to the planned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Arkansas, which would house the works part time, but only if two-thirds of the money was used to care for the art.

Fisk has also appealed the ruling because it wants to use all the revenue to replenish its endowment. The state’s appeal, filed Monday, seeks to keep the collection permanently at the Nashville campus.

In other arts news:

• Arts organizations in Washington, D.C., are fighting Mayor Vincent Gray’s proposal to tax tickets for cultural events in the city, the Associated Press writes.

The mayor’s 2012 fiscal plan includes a 6-percent levy on admission to live performances and museums. Culture groups have mounted a petition drive against the tax, which they say will curtail attendance and have a ripple effect on restaurants and other businesses near their operations.

• The defense firm Lockheed Martin will donate $10-million over the next decade toward construction of a new building at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, says the Dayton Daily News.

The gift is the largest in the 50-year history of the Air Force Museum Foundation, which raises money for the institution at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The $47-million addition will house exhibits on the U.S. space program and presidential aircraft.