Welcome!
You might be shocked by the title (and you should be), so keep on reading!
On the first chapter we discussed the difficulties that come along when trying to define what art is.
Basically, we realized it's not that easy to point at something and say "yep, this is definitely art" without hesitating.
And this happens because we don't have a concept of art that's clear enough.
We also said we needed a concept that isn't contradictory with art history, and it must include all possible styles (existing and yet to come).
But has it always been this way?
No, it hasn't.
But not because we actually had such concept of art that respected those considerations...
Because in fact, WE DIDN'T HAVE ONE AT ALL.
Yep, art didn't exist.
...
No, I'm not crazy.
What we call art, even if it's older than your great great great grandfather, didn't exist for itself as art.
It had a different purpose.
Don't get me wrong.
Art as a form of communication has been a part of humanity since always.
But was it just art? Or did it had another job?
How important is art's autonomy for its definition?
Art served as a journal for prehistory communities, who described their lives on the cave's walls.
It was educational for early Christians who hid their cult in catacombs.
For Greeks, Romans, Native cultures, Egyptians, Renaissance people, and many others, art is used as a sign of prestige.
That hasn't changed much, has it?
Art is still used for decoration only and associated with elites.
But it doesn't sound good to say art depends on such thing as aesthetics or prestige...
As long as art is considered from a different perspective than the concept of art itself, such as "art is decoration for a living room", or "a purchased product" then art is not being considered as art.
So when did the concept of art actually born?
Well, is there such a thing as a concept of art?
Find out in the next chapter!
Thank you for reading!
Btw, in each post I'm going to include the best comments, so go ahead!
Add some value to this post with your opinions!
If I select you, in addition to promoting, I'll resteem one of your latest posts!
WHAT THE F IS ART is a series of posts by 
that include:
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Art didn't exist
Chapter 3: Art b.D. and a.D. (Before Duchamp and after Duchamp)
Chapter 4: Is art dead? (Thoughts on Contemporary Art)
Chapter 5: Conclusions (If we ever reach one... Mmm, maybe that's the point!)