Cart
Free Shipping in the UK
Proud to be B-Corp

Christ to Coke Martin Kemp (Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford)

Christ to Coke By Martin Kemp (Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford)

Summary

Informative, funny, sad, and surprising by turns, this is the first book to look at all the main types of visual icon, taking eleven mega-famous examples, from Christ to the Coke bottle, to see how they arose and how they continue to function.

Christ to Coke Summary

Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon by Martin Kemp (Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford)

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, most notably 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.

Christ to Coke Reviews

Leonardo expert Kemp (emer., Oxford Univ.) offers a deeply idiosyncratic but consistently engaging book that investigates what makes an image take on the extraordinary recognizability, transhistorical significance, and rich and diverse associations that identify it as an icon. * E. Hutchinson *
written in a thoughtful but conversational style ... and loaded with gorgeous images ... those curious about how images 'go viral', to borrow a contemporary term, will find themselves hooked. * ArtInfo *
an essential effort to understand who we came to worship what we worship and why the iconography of consumerism has such an enduring hold on us, whether or not we want to admit it. * The Atlantic.com *
Recommended for all those interested in iconography, art history, advertising, and branding. * Library Journal *
Ostensibly dedicated to how an image becomes an icon, this fascinating book is mostly about how a well-trained, curious mind pusues its many enthusiasms and examines its place in time and history. * ARTnews *
an excellent present for erudite friends * Literary Review *

About Martin Kemp (Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford)

Martin Kemp FBA is Emeritus Professor in the History of Art at Trinity College, Oxford University. He has written, broadcast and curated exhibitions on imagery in art and science from the Renaissance to the present day, including The Science of Art. Optical Themes in Western Art from Brunelleschi to Seurat (1992), The Human Animal in Western Art and Science (2007), Leonardo, and the prize-winning Leonardo da Vinci. The marvellous works of nature and man (1989 and 2006). His book on the newly discovered Leonardo portrait, La Bella Principessa, written with Pascal Cotte, was published in 2010.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements ; List of Plates ; Introduction ; 1. Christ. The True Icon ; 2. The Cross ; 3. The Heart ; 4. The Lion ; 5. Mona Lisa ; 6. Che ; 7. Napalmed and Naked ; 8. Stars and Stripes ; 9. Coke. The Bottle ; 10. DNA ; 11. E=mc2 ; 12. Fuzzy Formulas

Additional information

GOR008381913
9780199581115
0199581118
Christ to Coke: How Image Becomes Icon by Martin Kemp (Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford)
Used - Like New
Hardback
Oxford University Press
20111013
392
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
The book has been read, but looks new. The book cover has no visible wear, and the dust jacket is included if applicable. No missing or damaged pages, no tears, possible very minimal creasing, no underlining or highlighting of text, and no writing in the margins

Customer Reviews - Christ to Coke