Supported by the King Ranch which offered the artist access to the ranch, the paintings in the exhibition, “King Ranch: A Legacy in Art, Paintings by Noe Perez” present evocative visual narratives, through Perez’s paintings and artifacts from and about King Ranch. The exhibition reveals the lifeways and traditions of King Ranch and its place in the artistic heritage of the American West. Perez’s landscapes, genre scenes, wildlife, and livestock paintings serve as a reminder of the beautiful, vast and rugged place that is King Ranch.
Noe Perez is a contemporary Texas painter living in Corpus Christi. He has painted his native South Texas his entire life and his works have been exhibited at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, the Nave Museum in Victoria, the Mayborn Museum at Baylor University in Waco, and at the Texas State Capitol in Austin.
King Ranch, established in 1853, looms large in American history and perhaps even larger in the popular imagination. During a drought in south Texas and northern Mexico Richard King purchased the cattle from the families of the ranching community of Cruillas, Tamaulipas, and invited them to move his ranch and become his workforce. These families became Los Kineños (King’s people). From its founding by Richard King to the present day. King Ranch has indelibly captured for generations the essence of the American West. Moreover, the King Ranch was an early supporter of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and continues to support the Museum.
