…to whom does the meaning of the art of the past properly belong? To those who can apply it to their own lives, or to a cultural hierarchy of relic specialists?
The art of the past should not “belong” to any one group in particular, but instead to any who wish to appreciate its magnificence. The art of the past is a part of history which should be available to those who have a desire to learn from it, teach from it, look at it or use it for other personal purposes. There are those who believe that society has gotten out of hand in its reproduction and commercialization of certain works from the art of the past, and to a degree this may be true, but with the change in time art has also been changing and these reproductions can be looked at as another form of art in themselves. A very big part of history and culture have to do with changes in art, and this can include how the art of the past is utilized in the present, so to restrict this to a group of specialists could be denying many potential changes to the future as well as to history and art itself.
