Isms: Understanding Art is the perfect pocket-sized guide for gallery and museum lovers who have a general interest in the arts, but not necessarily any formal education in the visual arts. With this portable and indispensable tool in hand, anyone can guide themselves through the world's prestigious museums and major art collections and recognize and intelligently discuss the significant movements that have shaped the world of art.

Using an informative and engaging style with informal and direct tone, each of the numerous "isms" that are used to define-but often misleadingly cloud-art movements are explained in simple terms and made accessible to the casual art lover. Readers are encouraged to think of styles as useful tools for conversation and exploration rather than as hard and fast academic definitions, and to relate to the art itself rather than to a merely conceptual idea.

Each spread is devoted to a single art historical period and begins with an introduction that explains when the movement first emerged, the historical period to which it applies, and the principal disputes over its applicability, usefulness, or significance. The rest of the chapter is divided into several sections illustrating the most important artists and works within the period, related key words, and illustrations that best represent the distinctive features. This comprehensible structure makes it possible for any reader to gain a clear understanding of Classicism or Cubism while sitting in a cafe or visiting a gallery.

Highly illustrated, Full of Love, Full of Wonder explores the oeuvre to date, showcasing Savvas' processes as well as the finished works, thus offering an unprecedented insight into both her large and small-scale works. Born in Canberra, Australia, from Greek-Cypriot parents, and moving to London in the mid-1990s in order to develop her career as an artist, her artistic identity is therefore an eclectic reflection of her multiple heritages. Contributors Rachel Kent, Patricia Ellis and Stephan Little offer their disparate view points and contextualize Savvas' work both within the Australian, Greek and British contemporary art scenes, the historical canon of art and the pop, kitsch and Zen cultures which Savvas' work balances with curiously harmonious ease.

View of the Pinnacle is a richly illustrated catalogue featuring more than eighty suzuribako, dating from the fourteenth through the twentieth centuries, from the Edmund and Julia Lewis Collection. suzuribako, the exquisite lacquer boxes designed to hold the implements used in creating brush-and-ink calligraphy, have for centuries combined utilitarian function with superb craftsmanship. The art of creating suzuribako came into being during the Heian period in Japan (794–1185), when aristocratic culture—both artistic and literary—flourished; it was in full flower during the sixteenth century and continued into modern times. The designs on suzuribako frequently represent highly refined visual representations of classical poetry, literature, mythology, and history. Diverse subjects are depicted, including religious figures, philosophers, poets, animals, mythical creatures, and landscapes (real and imagined). These artistic representations are often combined with calligraphed poems or excerpts from classical literature. In the catalogue, Stephen Little and Edmund Lewis give equal attention to both the literary content of the suzuribako and the lacquer techniques used in crafting them. The literary references and themes, drawn as much from Chinese as from Japanese classical texts, reflect the deep knowledge of Chinese and Japanese classical literature among the literate classes in Japan from the eighth century onward. A full appreciation of the themes and metaphorical imagery incorporated into many of the boxes requires a deep cultural sophistication on the part of the viewer. Stephen Little, describing the layered literary themes frequently depicted in suzuribako, notes that “the excavation of hidden layers of meaning in a box’s decoration becomes a thrilling quest.” The volume includes an essay by Edmund Lewis on the nuances of meaning in suzuribako designs, and the interviewing of the artistic and literary expressions embodied in them. In a second essay, John Stevens presents a brief history of Japanese calligraphy and explains its central importance in Japanese cultural expression.