Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon - Hardcover

Kemp, Martin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199581118 ISBN 13: 9780199581115

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2011

Synopsis

How does an image become iconic? In Christ to Coke, eminent art historian Martin Kemp offers a highly original look at the main types of visual icons. Lavishly illustrated with 165 color images, this marvelous work illuminates eleven universally recognized images, both historical and contemporary, to see how they arose and how they continue to function in our culture.

Kemp begins with the stock image of Christ's face, the founding icon--literally, since he was the central subject of early Christian icons. Some of the icons that follow are general, like the cross, the lion, and the heart-shape (as in "I heart New York"). Some are specific, such as the Mona Lisa, Che Guevara, and the famous photograph of the napalmed girl in Vietnam. Other modern icons come from politics, such as the American flag (the "Stars and Stripes"), from business, led by the Coca-Cola bottle, and from science, most notably the double helix of DNA and Einstein's famous equation E=mc2.

The stories of these icons--researched using the skills of a leading visual historian--are told in a vivid and personal manner. Some are funny; some are deeply moving; some are highly improbable; some center on popular fame; others are based on the most profound ideas in science. The diversity is extraordinary. Along the way, we encounter the often weird and wonderful ways that these images adapt to an astonishing variety of ways and contexts.

Informative, amusing, and surprising by turns, Christ to Coke will entertain and intrigue readers with the narratives that Martin Kemp skillfully weaves around these famous images.

About this title

Review:

Take a Look Inside Christ to Coke [Click on Images to Enlarge]

Mona Lisa, digitally restored. Photo courtesy of Pascal Cotte.

Enrique Avila Gonzalez, Che Guevara. Ministry of the Interior, Havana, Cuba.

Felix de Weldon, Marines Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima, Virginia, Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery.

BFF Architects and Izé, DNA door handles, London, Royal Society.

About the Author:

Martin Kemp is Emeritus Professor in the History of Art at Trinity College, Oxford. A renowned figure in the world of art, he is the author of The Oxford History of Western Art and Leonardo.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0199581118
• ISBN 13: 9780199581115
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368