Isms: Understanding Modern Art

An engaging and informative guide to all the significant "isms"--schools and movements--that have shaped modern and contemporary art from Impressionism to the present.

Following on the heels of the bestselling Isms: Understanding Modern Art comes this handy small-format guide to the history and development of modern art since the Impressionist era. Loaded with reproductions of key artworks and rounded out with a glossary and index of names, this guide is the best single-volume concise introduction to modern art for beginners, as well as an engaging new way of conceptualizing modern art for aficionados and collectors.

...isms: Understanding Modern Art sorts art into a chronological sequence of more than 55 movements and schools, or "isms." Beginning with Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism, and Symbolism, it progresses through all the major and minor art movements of the twentieth century (Fauvism, German Expressionism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Social Realism among others) through the postwar era up to the present. Featuring 110 beautiful full-color reproductions of key artworks illustrating the important concepts of each artistic movement, ...isms: Understanding Modern Art is like a virtual gallery of the finest modern masters.

Included are a glossary, a list of principal names (artists, collectors, patrons), a gazetteer, and a chronology, making this the best single-volume guide to modern art for beginners while also offering cognoscenti an intriguing new way of conceptualizing the visual arts of the modern era.

Sam Phillips is a freelance writer and editor on art, architecture and design. Formerly assistant editor of the Royal Academy of Arts Magazine, he has contributed to publications including The World of Interiors, Time Out, Blueprint, I-D Magazine, The Independent, The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph, and the Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year. He has edited art books and catalogues for London-based galleries including the Serpentine Gallery, South London Gallery, The Photographers’ Gallery and Haunch of Venison.