San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts

TEXAS IN MY SOUL:
A.C. Cook & the Hock Shop Collection

Porfirio Salinas, All Roads Lead to San Angelo, ca. 1942, Oil on fiber board, 40" x 62"

From cactus in bloom to insightful portraits to timeless landscapes --- the whole spectrum of ‘Texas’ will be on display at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts with the opening of the exhibit Texas in My Soul: A.C. Cook & the Hock Shop Collection on Thursday evening November 20 from 6 to 9 pm along with the companion exhibit, Early Texas Art in the Concho Valley. The Opening Reception is open to the public and free of charge. Refreshments will be served and great country and western music by the band Clear Water will accompany the celebration.

Spanning the time period from the late 19th century up to the early 1960’s this magnificent collection of Texas art owes its existence to the persistent efforts of Fort Worth’s A.C. ‘Ace’ Cook. A former Texas International Airlines pilot and pawnshop proprietor, Ace has spent over 25 years searching through galleries, flea markets, antique shops and garage and estate sales looking for often forgotten examples of early Texas art. In the end he has not only amassed an internationally famous collection but preserved as well Texas art history for the generations to come.

After resigning from his career as an airline pilot, Ace developed a very successful multi-location pawn business. Thus his collection is called the ‘Hock Shop Collection,’ and can be found lining the walls of the Bull Ring in the Fort Worth Stockyards. A 1930’s era gambling hall, Ace purchased the building and completely renovated it. Today he welcomes visitors from around the world with homemade ice cream, Texas wine and ice-cold beer and of course the star attraction, his collection of early Texas art.

Lois Neville Kelly, The Cowboy, Ben Avila, 1932. Oil on canvas, 35 1/4 " x 28 1/4"

The exhibition of 55 paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs selected from the Hock Shop Collection was organized by the Tyler Museum of Art, where it was on display this summer before traveling to San Angelo. A.C. Cook has been generous in lending his collection to museums, exhibitions and educational endeavors in the past, but now this exhibition at the Tyler Museum of Art and the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts represents the first time that a large number of objects representing a cross section of his collection have been exhibited since the works were first installed at the Bull Ring. Ace, who in the process of collecting early Texas art over the past 25 years has become an expert on the subject, will be on hand at the San Angelo opening.

“Ace in his own right is a marvelous example of a high-spirited Texan who has pursued his passion for Texas art with incredible energy and has created an asset that he loves to share widely,” says SAMFA Director Howard Taylor.

This exhibition was organized by the Tyler Museum of Art in cooperation with the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.


Wells Fargo Bank, San Angelo
is proud to sponsor this exhibit