The Modern System of the Arts  

"Marcel Duchamp once proposed that art is any activity of any kind- everything. However, the way that only certain activities are classified today as art is a social construction. There is evidence that there may be an element of truth to this. The Invention of Art is an art history book which examines the construction of the modern system of the arts i.e. fine art. Larry Shiner finds evidence that the older system of the arts before our modern system (fine art) held art to be any skilled human activity i.e. Ancient Greek society did not possess the term art but techne. Techne can be understood neither as art or craft, the reason being that the distinctions of art and craft are historical products that came later on in human history. Techne included painting, sculpting and music but also; cooking, medicine, horsemanship, geometry, carpentry, prophecy, and farming etc." --Sholem Stein