The idea that art is a way of sensemaking and responding to the present is a pretty recent idea. Like 200 years old. For much of history economic determinism explains most of art (how much surplus there was and who controlled it = what art got made)
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Especially religious art! Wealthy patrons would actually get themselves painted into religious paintings etc! google.com/amp/s/www.arts
In Middle Ages, art was either by the church or by the nobleness. You can see a clear relation there between power & representation.
That changes with the rise of interest in art of the middle class bourgeoisie (19th century) that had a growing interest in humanism, esthetic ./.
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