[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2748]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       TRIBUTE TO ARNOLD FRIBERG

 Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, today I rise to pay tribute to 
Arnold Friberg, a gifted American artist.
  For more than eight decades as a painter, Mr. Friberg has set down a 
profound and varied body of work, including magazine covers and 
illustrations, World War II depictions, the Northwest Mounted Police, 
Book of Mormon illustrations, portraits, including Her Royal Highness 
Queen Elizabeth of England, and many rich and dramatic depictions of 
the Old West. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his revered 
Prayer at Valley Forge, which shows George Washington at prayer. Along 
with Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware, Friberg's 
Prayer at Valley Forge is one of the great American patriotic 
paintings.
  In 1953, Arnold Friberg was summoned to Hollywood by Cecil B. DeMille 
for a 1-month consultation on costume design for a film he was going to 
remake. DeMille became so impressed by the artist that soon afterward 
Mr. Friberg was called back to Hollywood and began a warm, personal 
collaboration with the storied director that lasted for 4 years.
  Mr. Friberg became DeMille's chief artist-designer for the well-known 
movie ``The Ten Commandments,'' which brought the artist an Academy 
Award nomination. Half a century later, ``The Ten Commandments'' still 
draws sizable audiences to television broadcasts and DVD sales. 
Becoming the visual designer for what DeMille and his set decorators 
and cameramen put on film, Mr. Friberg painted major scenes of the 
salient episodes in the Old Testament including The Finding of Moses, 
Moses and the Burning Bush, First Passover, Exodus Begins, Orgy of the 
Golden Calf, Moses Receiving the Law, and Crossing of the Red Sea. 
Visually, the film was built around these scenes, along with major 
costume designs created by the artist.
  After completion of the film, Mr. Friberg's original paintings were 
widely exhibited wherever the film opened, and more than 1 million 
copies of a catalog depicting them were sold.
  The golden anniversary of the release of the film is being celebrated 
this month at an exhibition of these marvelous paintings, along with 
artifacts from the film, at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center in 
West Valley City, UT.
  I am honored today to acknowledge the work of Arnold Friberg and add 
my name to the long list of Americans who are grateful for his 
outstanding contributions.

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