...isms: Understanding Art

I like this little book! It's a straightforward and succinct guide to visually identifying the various styles of art as divided by art historians into "-isms" from the Renaissance to Postmodernism. I am a professional artist, who had the average amount of art history aside studio classes in college, but I have felt an urgent need for some time to better understand myself via the concreteness that a good grip of art history provides... with this book, a good amount of relevant information is relayed with just a couple pages of text and relevant visual examples of work. I appreciate the disclaimer in the book's introduction that it is not "intended to test your ability to label or identify art at 40 paces!" That doesn't mean, however, that it isn't useful. As I said, a lot of info is conveyed in a relatively short amount of book, and with a chronological layout, the -isms are grouped into five time sections: Renaissance, Baroque & Rococo, The 19th Century, Modernism, and Postmodernism. Each of the five sections has a color to code and helps visually group the isms as they explained, and each ism includes the relevant group of artists (and when they lived) within the genre, as well as major works within a specific gallery. At the end of each ism, is an eye symbol denoting that listed movements appear similar to the aforementioned ism, as well as a closed eye symbol to denote what that ism does NOT appear similar to. This book is highly portable in that it is 1) physically small, and 2) structurally sound and rugged in the Flexibound format. I like the long flap at the beginning and end that can be used as a bookmark to keep your place as you read through it. Overall, a handy guide to those either unaqauinted with, or wanting to refresh their understanding of, art history in a general sense. In the past, I have found a real struggle with books that are sizably large, hefty hardcovers bearing so many hundreds of pages, because it is physically cumbersome to delve into and feel aquainted with. The typical burden of lengthy textbooks, I suppose. This book is the opposite and it's breezy approach of subject matter fits perfectly within its physically light and compact self.

Perfecto para introducirte en el mundo del arte y tener una buena base. Buena calidad de imágenes y de impresión.

A must have to understand different ism in art.

This book is a lovely little gem. It is basically as illustrated book explaining all the isms of art, such as romanticism, classicism, etc. Quality: The cover is lovely and sturdy, the paper quality is great, the art is gorgeous, in fact the entire book exudes class. You can tell alot of care went into creating the book Content: The book starts with a useful guide on how to use the book. Each era (renaissance, baroque & rococo, 19th century, modernism, post-modernism) is color coded which makes it easy to navigate the book. For each era and art style, a short description and given with an explanation of what the particular 'ism' means. There is a wealth of beautiful art used to demonstrate the difference between each style and many other suggestions are given for hours of enjoyment. What I love about this book is that although I'm very ignorant when it comes to art, I never found this book hard to follow. And although the information given in the book are simple and easy to digest, I finished it feeling that I have a pretty good grasp on the different styles and trend. In fact, this book is now my favorite companion when I visit art museums.

The book was almost new. I love it !