Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon

by Martin Kemp

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.

Genres: Art History, Nonfiction, Art, Cultural, History

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Martin Kemp is professor of the History of Art at Oxford University, and the author of many books including The Science of Art, Visualizations and the recent Leonardo. He is also a frequent contributor to Nature, the international science journal, where he writes on science and art. Together with Antonio Criminisi, he wrote an article in NEW 1_2005: "Paolo Uccello's 'Battle of San Romano': Order from Chaos" is the most recent report on how they apply 3D graphic techniques to the process of art history investigation.

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Bea Elwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely don't finish a book but from the introduction of this one I knew it was not what I thought it was about. I found it Euro-centric and I don't agree with the repeated statements that images of Christ are so universally recognized as to have influenced everything else in visual media, like he tries to claim. The author suggested in the introduction reading chapters out of order and so I did. The two chapters I did read I found had typos, incorrect facts and I couldn't agree with most of his conclusions. Disappointed because I thought this would be an interesting look at how "image becomes icon".

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Image to Icon

Martin Kemp is a distinguished scholar and art historian best known for his writings on Leonardo da Vinci but also respected for his research on imagery in art and science. In this sophisticated by highly readable book he shares his insights in obsessively researched subjects, analyzing why we like things, how we subliminally come to recognize them, and why an image or object sustains time to become an icon. Kemp states 'an iconic image has come to carry a rich series of varied associations for very large numbers of people across time and cultures transgressing the parameters of its initial making, function, context, and meaning.'

Kemp then proceeds to present eleven universally recognized images and explores how they began and then developed into what we now see as icons. What makes Kemp's reading so warm is his readily admitting that one of the chief sources of information for his book came from the Internet - an aspect of his thinking that immediately places him in the approachable stance of most readers today. His 'icons' to be examined begins obviously enough with the Christ image - face, body and cross- images that no matter how many centuries have passed still are very much a part of our art and architecture and literature. He points out that religious icons appeal to our historical and emotional underpinnings. But then he moves into areas that are indeed iconic but have followed different paths to hold their position - the Heart as in I Heart NY) etc, the Lion, Mona Lisa, Che, a potent Vietnam War photograph, the Stars and Stripes, Coke (the bottle as well as the beverage), DNA helix, Einstein's E=mc2, and Fuzzy Formulas. It then becomes obvious that rather than simply conjuring images he also has addressed art history, science, sociology, technology, philosophy, religion, politics, advertising, graphic design, and even more areas of thought.

But what makes this book, illustrated with over 150 richly colorful images, more than a treatise is the deeply humanistic touch with which he addresses every icon, every topic from invention to accidentals to discoveries, never letting the reader forget that the icons we have created came form our own needs and desperate desire to understand what makes us tick. This is an impressive book, rich in content and thought and presentation.

Grady Harp

[Ankur Vohra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit too Euro centric for me- I was expecting it to have a more global outlook towards the subject matter hence a little disappointment but Overall a good read for someone like me who is just starting his journey of discovering global art and culture.

[Mills College Library]

701 K323 2012