DCP’s Mormon scholars testify: abandoned?

[Gadianton]

Nice find, Morley. An iconic Mormon painting for sure.

I'm looking at it, and I think that arrow in the tree is overkill. I'd ditch the arrow and crop out some of the bodies at the bottom.

What's your analysis?

[Morley]

Nice find, Morley. An iconic Mormon painting for sure.

I'm looking at it, and I think that arrow in the tree is overkill. I'd ditch the arrow and crop out some of the bodies at the bottom.

What's your analysis?

Ha! You're making me work for my supper, Gad! Okay, here goes.



While much of the religious art of The Twentieth Century had moved towards abstraction or expressionism, here it's obvious that Arnold Friberg was committed to realism. In this painting, he lays out a dramatic scene worthy of Cecil B. DeMille (for whom he once worked). He's put together a composition of light and color in order to create a powerful visual narrative for a dying civilization.

At first glance, it's obvious that all the lines in the painting point to an area that's dominated by the half-naked old man in the center. Though he's certainly in a tragic pose and probably dying, in many ways this central figure of Mormon represents a gray-bearded and powerful God. His hand is stretched out like that of Michelangelo's God in The Vatican's Sistine Chapel. Only this time, Adam is absent and his stand-in will appear more than a millennium later in the form of Joseph Smith who God will touch to bring forth The Restoration.



Moroni's Mormon’s figure also references Medieval images of a wounded Jesus upon the cross, naked from the waist up, a cloth wrapped around his loins. Except in this painting, this is a god who died for the sins of the Nephites and who will redeem his people, not by raising himself from the dead, but by passing on the their sacred record to the Gentiles.

This is clearly the end of an Empire. The sun has turned to blood, the carrion birds circle in the distance. The Title of Liberty, the flag that was used by the old Captain Moroni, is limp as it stands against the mighty maple (a tree that is sadly down to its last leaf).

The lone arrow stuck in the tree is indeed necessary. It draws your attention to the figure looming above Mormon. Here is Moroni, who, like his dying father, was obviously a professional bodybuilder--with his tiny head and massive Schwarzenegger body. His entire right side is cloaked in mystery--and with only a peek of his left arm and chest do we see his awesome power. This is the coming power of the Restoration, as a hulking Moroni will stand before a slim fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith, like Charles Atlas pointing the way for the sand-kicked-in-his-face, 98-pound weakling.

Moroni's cape, breastplate, and the galea (the crested helm) below him, are reminiscent of the Roman Empire that rose and fell at about the same time as the Nephite Civilization. They foretell of Darth J's classic thread about the real location of Book of Mormon peoples.

In this depiction, Moroni is looking down at the Golden Plates and trying to figure out how to engineer the whole Two Cumorahs thing. He's glad he emulated his father and spent the past two decades bulking up so that he could tuck these heavy plates under one arm for the trip from Mesoamerica to upstate New York, dodging robbers and ne'er-do-wells all along the way.

Mormon and Moroni, the two Jews depicted here, are clearly not the Mizrahi Jews that one would expect from the descendants of a group that immigrated from the Middle East. They're almost certainly Ashkenazi, foretelling of the coming diaspora and subsequent partial integration of Jews into the bloodlines of Northern Europe.

The Viking helm atop Moroni's head is an allusion to the white-and-delightsome aspect of God's chosen. It's also a tip-of-the-hat (or helmet) to the coming of DesNat and the white nationalist branch of “F”-all. I read once that, in this painting, Friberg said that he tried to capture the mood of Götterdämmerung and Wagner's Siegfried in Der Ring des Nibelungen. Ha! Richard Wagner was Hitler's favorite composer. (Yes, I went there.)



In conclusion, I can see why Dr. Swanson would be taken with this piece. It's truly a masterpiece. Vern was only 14 when he was baptized against the wishes of his mother--and all of the twelve Friberg Book of Mormon paintings have that Marvel Universe appeal to them. I thought they were great when I was 14, too.

I probably need a disclaimer, here. I've poked fun, but in reality I do admire Friberg, Swanson, and Friberg's Book of Mormon paintings. Would that I could either paint as well as Friberg, or critique as well as Swanson.

Edit: Mixing up my Nephite prophets.

[Marcus]

What's with the blonde at the bottom right? She has her hair down and is wearing a lace-edged mauve party dress with embroidered sleeves, and a gaudy necklace of something green and silver. She does have the temple insert tucked into her dress to cover her plunging neckline however, apparently made of burlap. (did tbm officials require that?) She has no obvious wounds but she is lying next to a shield with a giant mortar hole in it.

[Gadianton]

Great analysis Morley.

The lone arrow stuck in the tree is indeed necessary. It draws your attention to the figure looming above Mormon.

My dad would have said the same thing; I totally missed it.

[Doctor Steuss]

What's with the blonde at the bottom right?

*puts on Morley hat... with its crushing weight*

She is a representation of liberty (inspired by Charles Barber's depictions of Liberty). Liberty, lifeless at the base of the flaccid Title of Liberty. Her neckless is turquoise and bone, to remind us that modern Native Americans are the decedents of the Book of Mormon peoples.

[Gadianton]

Without knowing context, it's not a faith-promoting image.

An aristocrat clutches his gold while studying something in the distance, unmoved by the dead all around him. A young general stands behind him -- presumably trusted -- with eyes flickering between the face of his elder, whatever he's being shown in the distance, and the stack of gold. His knees are bent, hand on hilt, and it would be a quick pull and plunge.

[Morley]

You all are a tough crowd. So, Mormon Bids Farewell to a Once Great Nation doesn't give you a testimony? How about this one, Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon?



The vertical lines of this piece lend it a solid, stable, peaceful feeling, while the bright tones bring a sense of joy. The green foliage in the foreground predicts abundance, renewal, and growth.

However, here, I'm most taken with the overly-posed male figure in the foreground. At first glance, he's a seemingly rough-and-tumble manly-man. Then one notices his tanned leather manpurse; his flawlessly knotted teal sash; his scarlet, perfectly fringed kilt; and that his carefully coordinated cuffs, boot trim, and sheath are all made of the finest leopard skin. This guy knows how to accessorize, and is almost certainly a Nephite fashion influencer.

Is it just me, or does the abundance of male flesh in Friberg's works give them a certain homoerotic quality? They foreshadow the coming mash-up of Gerard Butler as King Leonidas, as he leads his bathhouse mates to fend off the evil, rhino-riding Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae.

By the way, Marcus, you can follow the klieg lights to where they're shining on the porn-shouldered great-grandmother of your liberty blonde--emerging Aphrodite-like from the sea foam lake, protected by Zeus a bearded priesthood holder. (Proof that even religious illustration can succumb to the temptation to appeal to the male gaze.)

[huckelberry]

You all are a tough crowd. So, Mormon Bids Farewell to a Once Great Nation doesn't give you a testimony? How about this one, Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon?

By the way, Marcus, you can follow the klieg lights to where they're shining on the porn-shouldered great-grandmother of your liberty blonde--emerging Aphrodite-like from the sea foam lake, protected by Zeus a bearded priesthood holder. (Proof that even religious illustration can succumb to the temptation to appeal to the male gaze.)

except in Botticelli she is not all weak and weepy. But yes this version would appeal to 14 year old males.

Hey Morley when you brought up Friberg I thought to invite you to discuss the art. You have outdone my expectation, good show.You not only dug deeper into the actual imagery and workings of the image but then went on to have some good fun with it.

I think you are correct in seeing some careful consideration of implications in the detailing filling the image.

My thoughts got stuck on more ordinary observations. Odd mix of emotions in the fantasy images yet strong drawing, color, compostion. Not painful to look at like say that Utah political Trumper, name escaping me, or Kinkaid.

The quality of the painting is strong enough to communicate a sense that the scenes are real. Of course some of that comes from using familiar imagery (perhaps movie props?).

[Gadianton]

Is it just me, or does the abundance of male flesh in Friberg's works give them a certain homoerotic quality?

Just you bro.

Nice observation about the vertical lines.

(those two comments were meant to be unrelated)

[Boomer57]

You all are a tough crowd. So, Mormon Bids Farewell to a Once Great Nation doesn't give you a testimony? How about this one, Alma Baptizes in the Waters of Mormon?



The vertical lines of this piece lend it a solid, stable, peaceful feeling, while the bright tones bring a sense of joy. The green foliage in the foreground predicts abundance, renewal, and growth.

However, here, I'm most taken with the overly-posed male figure in the foreground. At first glance, he's a seemingly rough-and-tumble manly-man. Then one notices his tanned leather manpurse; his flawlessly knotted teal sash; his scarlet, perfectly fringed kilt; and that his carefully coordinated cuffs, boot trim, and sheath are all made of the finest leopard skin. This guy knows how to accessorize, and is almost certainly a Nephite fashion influencer.

Is it just me, or does the abundance of male flesh in Friberg's works give them a certain homoerotic quality? They foreshadow the coming mash-up of Gerard Butler as King Leonidas, as he leads his bathhouse mates to fend off the evil, rhino-riding Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae.

By the way, Marcus, you can follow the klieg lights to where they're shining on the porn-shouldered great-grandmother of your liberty blonde--emerging Aphrodite-like from the sea foam lake, protected by Zeus a bearded priesthood holder. (Proof that even religious illustration can succumb to the temptation to appeal to the male gaze.)

Notice that the brilliant white waterfall in the distance lines up perfectly with the baptizers hand that is raised to the square. This forms a link between the act of baptism and heaven.