The Genesis of Fine Arts: A reassessment of Kristeller's "Modern system of Fine arts"

In 1951 and 1952, Paul Oskar Kristeller demonstrated that what we know as Fine Arts did not exist until the eighteenth century. Shortly afterward, this notion was widely accepted and agreed upon by most of the theorists. Later, some of the writers such as Larry Shiner developed it. However, recently some other writers do not agree with him and for example, argue against his theory by indicating that the concept of “Imitative Arts” in ancient Greece is equivalent to the “modern system of Fine Arts”. Among these critics, James O. Young, the English translator of Charles Batteux, can be noted. This article briefly explains these two narratives at first and then, defends Kristeller's by considering some considerations. This defense is two-dimensional: On the one hand, this article emphasizes the nature of Art in the modern epoch and, on the other hand, alludes to the concept of "Fine Arts" in Iran and our participation in the new western concept of Fine Arts.