Christ to COKE : how image becomes icon / Martin Kemp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kemp, Martin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Art and society--History.

Art and society.

Art and popular culture--History.

Art and popular culture.

Symbolism--History.

Symbolism.

Signs and symbols--History.

Signs and symbols.

Symbolism in art--History.

Symbolism in art.

Symbolism in advertising--History.

Symbolism in advertising.

Symbolism in politics--History.

Symbolism in politics.

Popular culture--History.

Popular culture.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiv, 368 p. ) ill. (some col.), ports. (some col.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Informative, funny, sad, and surprising by turns, this book looks at all the main types of visual icon, taking 11 mega-famous examples, from Christ to the Coke bottle, to see how they arose and how they continue to function. Image, branding, and logos are obsessions of our age. Iconic images dominate the media.Christ to Coke is the first book to look at all the main types of visual icons. It does so via eleven supreme and mega-famous examples, both historical and contemporary, to see how they arose and how they continue to function. Along the way, we encounter the often weird and wonderful ways that they become transformed in an astonishing variety of ways and contexts. How, for example, has the communist revolutionary Che become a romantic hero for middle-class teenagers?The stock image of Christ's face is the founding icon - literally, since he was the central subject of early icon painting. Some of the icons that follow are general, like the cross, the lion, and the heart-shape. Some are specific, such as the Mona Lisa, Che Guevara, and the famous photograph of the napalmed girl in Vietnam. The American flag, the "Stars and Stripes", does not quite fit into either category. Modern icons come from commerce, led by the Coca-Cola bottle, and from science, mostnotably the double helix of DNA and Einstein's famous equation E=mc2. The stories, 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 centre on popular fame; others are based on the most profound ideas in science. The diversity is extraordinary. There is no set formula, but do the images share anything in common?So famous are the images that every reader is an expert in their own right and will be entertained and challenged by the narratives that Martin Kemp skilfully weaves around them.

Contents:

Christ : the true icon

The cross

The heart

The lion

Mona Lisa

Che

Napalmed and naked

Stars and stripes

COKE : the bottle

DNA

E=mc²

Fuzzy formulas.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-19-161988-4

1-283-94951-2

0-19-161704-0

OCLC:

763156933