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Arnold Friberg production art for The Ten Commandments

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MSS 8981

Scope and Contents

Collection contains original hand-drawn pieces of production artwork and sketches created by Arnold Friberg for the 1956 film The Ten Commandments. Dated approximately 1955.

Dates

  • approximately 1955

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Access restricted. Permission to use materials must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from Arnold Friberg production art for The Ten Commandments must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Coordinating Committee.

Biographical / Historical

Arnold Friberg (1913-2010) was a famous Mormon artist.

Arnold Friberg was born December 21, 1913 in Illinois to Sven Friberg and Ingeborg Solberg Friberg. He moved with his family to Arizona when he was three years old, where his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He began as a painting apprentice at the age of 13. After high school, Friberg attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, after which he moved to New York, where he studied at the Grand Central School of Art and worked for advertising agencies and painted covers for The Saturday Evening Post and other magazines. He was drafted into the Army during World War II and was asked to work as an artist with the rank of captain. Instead he chose to go into the infantry as an enlisted man. He served in Europe and in the Pacific. He married Hedve Mae Baxter, who died in 1986, and then remarried Heidi Miller Grosskopf in 1989. He had four children (two of which were step-children.)

From early in his career, Friberg was a well-known artist. He received commissions from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to paint images for them, as well as receiving a commission from Cecil B. DeMille to paint advertising images for The Ten Commandments. He is well known among the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for painting scenes from the Book of Mormon. His most famous painting is entitled "Prayer at Valley Forge," and depicts George Washington kneeling in prayer.

Friberg died on July 1, 2010 from complications after hip replacement surgery.

Extent

2 oversize boxes (1.5 linear ft.)

4 oversize boxes (6 linear ft.)

1 oversize box (2 linear ft.)

Language of Materials

English

Custodial History

Purchased from Anthony's Antiques & Fine Art in 2017.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased; Anthony's Antiques & Fine Art; 2017

Appraisal

Arts and Communications

Processing Information

Processed; Mary-Celeste Ricks; February 2017.

Title
Arnold Friberg production art for The Ten Commandments
Status
Completed
Author
Mary-Celeste Ricks
Date
28 February 2017
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English in Latin script.

Repository Details

Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository

Contact:
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States