isms: Understanding Art-Quality Guarantee

Description

Revised Edition, Updated 2017

Isms: Understanding Art is the perfect pocket-sized guide for galleryand museum lovers who have a general interest in the arts, but notnecessarily any formal education in the visual arts. With this portableand indispensable tool in hand, anyone can guide themselves through theworld’s prestigious museums and major art collections and recognize andintelligently discuss the significant movements that have shaped theworld of art.
Using an informative and engaging style with informaland direct tone, each of the numerous “isms” that are used to define-butoften misleadingly cloud-art movements are explained in simple termsand made accessible to the casual art lover. Readers are encouraged tothink of styles as useful tools for conversation and exploration ratherthan as hard and fast academic definitions, and to relate to the artitself rather than to a merely conceptual idea.
Each spread isdevoted to a single art historical period and begins with anintroduction that explains when the movement first emerged, thehistorical period to which it applies, and the principal disputes overits applicability, usefulness, or significance. The rest of the chapteris divided into several sections illustrating the most important artistsand works within the period, related key words, and illustrations thatbest represent the distinctive features. This comprehensible structuremakes it possible for any reader to gain a clear understanding ofClassicism or Cubism while sitting in a cafe or visiting a gallery.