In 2012, Fisk University and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art entered into co-ownership of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection. Gifted to Fisk by Georgia O’Keeffe in 1949, the collection includes 101 works mostly from the estate of Alfred Stieglitz, O’Keeffe’s late husband. Stieglitz has an unparalleled importance in American art history as a photographer, gallerist, and collector of pioneering artwork in the US. O’Keeffe’s decision to gift a significant group of works to a historically Black university in the South compels fresh analysis around topics of modernism, education, race, and legacy.  

Fisk University and Crystal Bridges share equally in the stewardship and care of the Stieglitz Collection, with works traveling between the institutions every two years. In recent years, the partnership has expanded and evolved through innovative approaches to student engagement and collaborative research. Join Jamaal Sheats (Associate Provost of Art and Culture, Director and Curator at Fisk University Galleries, and Assistant Professor of Arts, Fisk University) and Jen Padgett (Windgate Curator of Craft, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art) for a conversation around the collaboration and projects in progress, including a groundbreaking publication on the collection’s history.