Iconic Images

"Iconic" is one of those fashionable words which are used without much thought. Oxford University professor of art history Martin Kemp explores the subject of iconic imagery in his book Christ To Coke - How Image Becomes Icon (December 2011). His definition: "An iconic image is one that has achieved wholly exceptional levels of widespread recognisability and has come to carry a rich series of varied associations for very large numbers of people across time and cultures" (title link). His top 11 iconic images are:
1. Christ
2. The Cross
3. The Heart
4. The Lion
5. Mona Lisa
6. Che
7. Napalmed and Naked
9. Stars and Stripes
9. Coke: The Bottle
10. DNA
11. E=mc²
CLICK for a BBC slide show.
Kemp's icons are a limited Western view, beginning with the Russian Orthodox face of Christ. I've illustrated this post with No. 7 "Napalmed and Naked", the only one which looks toward Asia. Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo shows a naked 9-year-old girl - Phan Thi Kim Phuc - fleeing a US napalm attack during the Vietnam War. It must be the most powerful anti-war photo ever taken. The girl survived her burns and later set up the Kim Phuc Foundation to treat war-damaged children.