Mexican Art Exhibit Highlights Met Donor's Contributions

Based in Oklahoma City, Duke Ligon is an attorney, business owner, and board member working in the energy sector. Charitably active, Duke Ligon also serves on the boards of a number of nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma City and beyond, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A long-running Met exhibit highlights the contributions of early 20th-century philanthropist Emily Johnston de Forest, whose collection of Mexican pottery is on view through September of 2017. Called “Collecting the Arts of Mexico,” the exhibit showcases more than 100 works of art that Ms. De Forest called “maiolica.” In assembling the collection, she endeavored to highlight the significance of Mexican art.

Emily de Forest was the daughter of John Taylor Johnston, who served as the Met’s first president. She married Robert W. de Forest, who would become its fifth president. The de Forests together became the driving force behind construction of the museum’s American Wing.

The Met continues the tradition the de Forests began by collecting artworks from throughout Mexico and Latin America. In addition to objects the couple donated, the exhibit features several paintings by the 18th-century artist Nicolás Enríquez, who created his pieces on backgrounds of copper material.