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Elvish government seems, by all accounts available, to be rather authoritarian (in the strictest sense of the word), along hereditary lines. Elrond was the senior Elf of his line, his rule over the remnants of Doriath of Beleriand. Galadriel ruled over Elves that had never been west of the Misty Mountains, but was deemed the greatest (along with Celeborn) and most worthy to rule. Thranduil is a bit of a mystery. How old is he said to have been? Clearly his authority is also hereditary.
As to Art, all Elvish craft was nature-based and not concerned with originality, but with beauty and workmanship (work-elf-ship?). I wager that contemporary art critics would consider all Elvish art quite backward or at least 'retro'.
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