Harry Anderson painting, The Second Coming, will likely be recognized by LDS church members. It is much like Arnold Friberg’s famous paintings of the Book of Mormon. But LDS church members may not be familiar with the artists who created them.

Like Friberg, Harry Anderson was born in Chicago and attended a University in the state of Illinois. He didn’t grow up Mormon and never became a member. In his sophomore year in college the then undiscovered artist enrolled in a still-life painting class to fill an elective. It’s then that he discovered his hidden artistic talent.

Struggling as an artist during the great depression luck found his way and he slowly started receiving commissions from National magazines. So like Arnold Friberg he worked as a commercial artist in his younger years.

After joining the Seventh Day Adventist church, Anderson started painting pictures of Jesus Christ. The artist would switch between commercials artwork and painting pictures of Christ. The Mormon Church commissioned Anderson for a painting for the 1964 world’s fair. He would do a lot of artwork for the Mormon church, but never became a member. He refused to do any paintings about the Book of Mormon or the restoration.

Arnold Friberg went through years of rigorous training as a freelance artist and as an art student in Chicago. But in spite of all the art training Friberg’s big break did not come until 1937 when the Northwest Paper Company, a manufacturer of fine printing paper, commissioned the artist to create a pictorial symbol for the Northwest Mounted Police department.

From Arnold Friberg’s first illustration of the “Mounties,” to his last, the famous artists depictions of athletic uniformed men became the collector’s items and helped make Friberg the only American invited to be honorary member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His series of three hundred paintings over a thirty-eight-year commission is recognized as the longest running series of illustrations in advertising history.

By age thirteen, Arnold Friberg turned pro and was working for a sign painter. At fourteen, the young artist enrolled in the Federal Schools of Minneapolis, a correspondence school for commercial artists. Before the year ended, Friberg was self-employed, painting signs and displays for theaters, real-estate entrepreneurs, and the manager of the local wrestling arena. By age fifteen, the young artist had been hired by Safeway grocery store to paint signs, and a local vaudeville production had employed him to do “chalk talk” acts on stage. Friberg liked “chalk talk.” On stage he drew legendary characters to the delight of cheering crowds.

Last week, Arnold Friberg auctioned off his painting The Light of Christ. Although the final bid amount has not been released yet it was estimated the art would sell for an amount between $700,000 and $1,000,000.

Friberg wants to auction off his most famous painting from his art collection, The Prayer At Valley Forge, which is predicted to sell for in the millions.

After high school graduation, Arnold Friberg received unusual advice from his LDS bishop, who generally counseled young men to serve missions: Forego the mission. The Mormon bishop told Friberg to “Go to art school instead, for you will do more good through developing your talent than you could do in two years of door-to-door tracting.” Following that advice “with alacrity,” Friberg entered the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

In high school, crowds cheered Arnold Friberg’s athletic performance on the football field and in the boxing arena, but in greatest success came in the field of art. He did not like to paint things from his own life but rather paint things of great antiquity. In recognition of his talent, Friberg received three national art awards before high school graduation.

Arnold Friberg was giving special permission to use his own camera to take pictures of the set that he would use to recreate artwork to publicize the film.

A funny thing happened to Friberg when preparing to take pictures of the scene when Moses parts the Red Sea. With all the special effects setup the scene could only be shot only once. Friberg was given special permission to position himself directly under the film camera. When the shot happened, and the walls of water came together, Friberg snapped his camera. But there was no click. He had forgotten to cock the shutter. Quickly, the artist tried again, but it was too late. The scene had been filmed, never to be duplicated, and Arnold Friberg’s photograph was snapped a moment too late.

Arnold Friberg’s is auctioning off his painting The Light of Christ. It is among his most famous religious art pieces.

Friberg’s oil painting depicts the resurrected Christ. In order to bid on the painting, either in person or live by phone, it requires a $25,000 deposit.

Friberg is also looking to auction off his most famous painting, The Prayer at Valley Forge, which is worth millions. The artist hopes it will find a home in the American Revolution Museum scheduled to open in 2011.
For more information on the Friberg auction visit: http://salesandauction.com/101508.htm

Arnold Friberg was asked by movie director Cecil B. DeMille to work as the production artist on the film, The Ten Commandments, after he saw some of Friberg’s Book of Mormon paintings.

But one interesting part of Fribeg’s job while working on the movie was to help the writers understand what DeMille wanted by giving artistic forms of the scenes conceived by DeMille. The movie director had conceived the entire film in his head before before a script was written. Friberg would sketch scenes and the writers would use them for the basis for dialogue and action.

There were so many scenes for Friberg to picture that the artist often quickly sketched in pencil or watercolor. But some Friberg more elaborately planned and painted in oils. The crossing of the Red Sea, for example, was first produced as a massive oil painting, then the filming was planned around the effects Friberg created.

Friberg’s painting of the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea reveals a diverse group of people, each with an individual story. When the artist conceived of the people to be depicted in the Exodus scene, Friberg drew upon the memories of his army days. During his tour of duty in Europe, the artist witnessed the endless throngs of displaced people clogging the roads of Germany. They carried all of their belongings and, much like the Israelites, they did not know where they were going or what the future would hold.

Arnold Friberg was one of the pioneers in the LDS art world. He didn’t have specialized art galleries and the Internet to expose his work. Today that has all changed. Down in Prove is a blend of an LDS bookstore and art gallery called Olivewood. The owners seek to bring high-end literature and art to complement the LDS culture.

The store is dedicated to the finest of art and decided for the LDS niche they only sell quality.

LDS art still hasn’t achieved the sophistication, acclaim or interest of art critics from the leading art centers of Chicago or New York ─ even though the subjects merit it. LDS history is filled with great subject matter.

All the writings available at the store are the scholarly works of LDS authors including Hugh Nibley and Turman Madsen. The store also represents LDS artists Joseph Brickey, Robert Boyd, and Adam Abrams.

While the art and scholarly books are for sale, one display case offers items rich in LDS Church history that are not for sale. It includes an original copy of the Book of Mormon; copies of the death masks of church founder Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, both martyred in Carthage, Illinois.

Since the Arnold Friberg LDS art show opened at the Mesa Arizona Visitor’s center tons of people have come from all over to see Friberg’s twelve amazing and powerful Book of Mormon painting. Here are a few testimonials:
“When I saw the art at The Mesa Visitor Center I was blown away, I Googled and found http://ldsartcollector.com. Both of your sites are great! Thanks so much.”
-Clark G.

“I heard about the Mesa Show and had to go, it was better than I could have imagined. They even had Dustin Snow playing the great music heard on this site live at the Visitor Center. Thanks so much for organizing this, it really is awesome.”
-Nikki