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Arnold
Friberg, the son of Scandinavian
immigrants, was born on December 21, 1913 in Winnetka,
Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. At the age of 3 Arnold
moved to Arizona with his sister, Gertrude, and his parents.
By age 7, young Arnold Friberg was already drawing original
cartoons. Arnold Friberg remembers, "I
never had to take an aptitude test, I always knew what
I wanted to do, Art".
The
Fribergs were able to scrape together enough money to enroll
Arnold in a correspondence course at the age of 10. While
in Phoenix, Arizona, young Arnold Friberg often shared
his drawings with the newspaper staff of the Arizona Republican
and he learned from them. During his high school years,
Arnold earned money by making signs for local businesses.
After graduating from high school, he began his studies
at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. While attending the
Academy, Arnold Friberg worked part-time for printers in
the area. Arnold Friberg stayed in the Chicago area for
several years and worked in the commercial art field.
In
1940, Arnold Friberg moved to New York
City into the publishing world of Manhattan. While there,
he enrolled in night classes at the Grand Central School
of Art, where he studied with Norman Rockwell under Harvey
Dunn, one of the country's top illustrators. Following
New York, Arnold Friberg served with the 86th Infantry
Division in World War II.
While
in the Army, he was assigned to scouting and patrolling,
map making and training aid production. He was discharged
in 1946. While in Chicago, Arnold Friberg had met Hedve
Baxter, a boarder at the Friberg's home. After his discharge
from the Army, Arnold married Hedve and opened his own
studio in San Francisco. His reputation grew as an illustrator
as he worked on everything from package design to fashion
illustration.
In
1948, Arnold Friberg accepted a commission
to do scenes of the American West for a calendar series
by the Louis F. Dow Calendar Company. This would become
the start of his serious interest in the West. By 1950,
Arnold Friberg and his wife had moved to Utah, and Arnold
started teaching commercial art at the University of Utah.
About
this time, the great movie producer and director, Cecil
B. DeMille, was planning his immense movie production of "The
Ten Commandments." DeMille was in need of an artist
with both "the rare talent and inner vision to set
down in paint, all of the power, the color, the human drama
and above all else, the great moving spirit of the mighty
scenes" described in the Books of Moses.
After
a long search, which included Europe, a publisher friend
in Sweden sent DeMille prints of Arnold Friberg's scriptural
illustrations. Demille knew he had found his artist.
This
led to the Fribergs moving to Hollywood in 1953. There, Arnold
Friberg worked with Cecil B. DeMille for over
three years as his chief artist and designer for the epic
motion picture "The Ten Commandments."
Arnold Friberg worked closely with Cecil B. DeMille to visualize,
through hundreds of sketches and paintings, a variety of
scenes and human characters for the motion picture. Arnold
Friberg's 15 paintings for "The Ten Commandments" became
the pictorial basis for the movie's scenes, characters and
costumes, which earned him an Academy Award Nomination. The
paintings, when unveiled, toured the world, allowing millions
to view them. Cecil B. DeMille estimated that "when
'The Ten Commandment' paintings toured the world, they were
seen by more people than any other paintings except for some
of the most celebrated masterpieces such as the 'Mona Lisa,'
'Nightingale,' and 'The Last Supper.'"
DeMille
also stated that, "Among the living artists who have
dedicated their talents largely to religious art, Arnold
Friberg stands out for his virility and warmth,
dramatic understanding and truth. He has accomplished a
strong and real service in bringing the truth of the Bible
to a wider understanding, appreciation, and acceptance." In
the field of traditional realistic paintings, Arnold Friberg
stands alone as the greatest living interpreter of Scriptural
subjects.
In
1968 the Chevrolet Motor Company, a division of General
Motors, commissioned Arnold Friberg to
do a series of paintings depicting the most famous games
in the history of American intercollegiate football. These
paintings were used during the 1969 advertising campaign
and were among the most demanding and exciting pieces Arnold
Friberg had done. His extensive research included visiting
the Notre Dame Stadium and locker room where Knute Rockne
had coached. These paintings were such a success that they
were taken on tour and shown at universities throughout
the country.
Throughout
his career, Arnold Friberg has painted
a variety of themes: railroads and wagon trains, mountain
men and miners, Indians and religious figures, the U.S.
Calvary and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, canoes and
sailing ships, wildlife and horses. But, if he is to be
known for anything, he hopes it is the horse. Arnold Friberg
prides himself in the detail he uses, especially the detail
he uses in his paintings of horses.
One
of his largest and favorite pieces, painted in 1975, is
of George Washington kneeling in prayer beside his horse
at Valley Forge. Originally painted to honor our country's
Bi-centennial year, "The Prayer at Valley
Forge" in the past 31 years has become increasingly
cherished and recognized as a supreme 20th century masterpiece
of patriotic American art. In it we feel the cold, the
suffering, and the weight of the burden falling on that
tall and lonely man, driven to his knees there in the bitter
snows of Valley Forge. This picture, marking a bold rejection
of fleeting artistic and political "fashions",
now expresses a powerful affirmation of faith, patriotic
duty, and the deep spiritual depths in the founding of
our country.
Arnold
Friberg learned to paint horses when he began
painting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the late
1930's for the Northwest Paper Company Calendars. To
date, he has done almost 300 Mountie paintings, which
has earned him a special place among his subjects. He
is the only American who has ever been made an honorary
member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
In
1978 as a result of his work with the Mounties, Arnold
Friberg was commissioned to do an almost life-size
portrait of H.R.H. Prince Charles with his great horse
"Centennial", the great-grandson of Man-O-War.
This was done at a studio in the Buckingham Palace. Then
in 1990, Arnold Friberg and his wife were invited back to
spend another six weeks residing in the Buckingham Palace
in diligent preparatory sittings and studies for his commissioned
undertaking of a splendid equestrian portrait of Queen Elizabeth
II and Centennial. Being commissioned to paint these royal
portraits would mean that Arnold Friberg's name would be
included in a list with such great artists as; Rembrandt,
Velazquez, Raphael, Rubens, Van Dyck and numerous other masters
who had painted portraits of the Royal family. Arnold Friberg
describes himself as a storyteller. "That's all I've
ever wanted to do, that's why I went into illustrating."
Arnold
Friberg now works from his studio in Salt Lake
City. "Art to me is a service, to bring enrichment
to people's lives. That's why I want my art to be perfectly
understood. One of the things I work for is clarity.
That doesn't mean hard-edged forms, but clarity of the
picture: what time of day, what kind of lighting, where
it is. It should all be clear. I hope no one ever has
to explain my pictures."
In
Recognition of his spiritual, royal and other historical
paintings, Arnold Friberg was made a life
member of the ancient and honorable Royal Society of Arts,
London, which accounts for the initials R.S.A. after his
name. And while his paintings are realistic and historically
correct, it is Arnold Friberg's extraordinary ability to
capture not only the drama of history, but also the vibrancy
and inner strength of human characteristics that have earned
him the respect and recognition as one of the greatest
master painters of modern times. "Art is always best
when serving a cause greater than the artist."
