James Monaco’s use of the term ‘The Spectrum of Art’ refers to the fact that art comes in various forms, categorised by their different styles and ideas. The ancients recognised seven; history, poetry, comedy, tragedy, music, dance and astronomy. However, by the thirteenth century, the meaning of ‘art’ began to change and adapt a more practical connotation. The literary arts had somewhat merged into a mix of literature and philosophy. The meaning of art changed within different centuries, it being synonymous with ‘skill’ in the sixteenth century, activities that weren’t previously included such as painting and sculpture, began to be considered ‘fine arts’.

The nineteenth century saw the development of science, and now, what had been previously known as ‘natural philosophy’ was now considered ‘natural science’, and the art of alchemy became the science of chemistry.

Monaco defines his ‘spectrum of art’ in three different categories: “The performance arts, which happen in real time.”, “The representational arts, which depend on the established codes and conventions of language (both pictorial and literary) to convey information about the subject to the observer.”, “The recording arts, which provide a more direct path between subject and observer: media not without their own codes but quantitatively more direct than the media of the representational arts.”

To summarize “The spectrum of the Arts” it’s the idea that art forms each have their own characteristics, however the forms of art can work together.  

Monaco outlines the different Artistic expressions that are used, visual arts, performing arts, literary arts and finally film including all these forms. Visual arts, he explains that these capture a single moment and are unchangeable. Performing Arts, these are pieces of art that tell a story and are often presented live. Literary arts, this includes poetry, novels and essays this tells emotion through storytelling. Film acts as all of them, including aspects from all forms of art.  

He speaks about how Technolgy advancing, changes the idea of art, film can be watched in any space any time, unlike before when everything was live and more of a novelty outing to view one of these arts. Personally, i feel that the invention of technology pulls away from the power of plays and visual art.  

He also speaks about how film is used to express people’s emotional and political views. Art can express people’s perception, showing people different ideas. Flim can these so well with using all of the art forms, including sound, light and writing. Cinema is also able to manipulate elements that other art forms can’t, making it possibly the most captivating form.  

Over generations, the meaning of the word “art” has changed and its history; this tells us a lot about what life was like during the times before us. In ancient times they recognized art as activities, there were seven forms. These were history, poetry, comedy, tragedy, music, dance and astronomy. Despite them all being very different they all are vastly helpful in describing life and the universe. Later in the thirteenth century the definition of art had changed, while still involving the seven forms, history, poetry, tragedy and comedy had merged and now focused on literature and philosophy and then re-ordered into grammar rhetoric and logic. Dance was replaced by geometry and the forms became more practical. In the sixteenth century the word art included a wide range of skills as you can master both an art and skill. But by the seventeenth century the different meanings of art began to reduce again as geometry and mathematics were becoming more separate and the “fine arts” were becoming more and more recognized. Throughout the nineteenth century, with the increase in scientific knowledge, art and science continued to separate, and art was becoming a similar definition to how we see it today additionally with the dada movement in the 1920s making art more basic. 

“What does Monaco mean by the term “The Spectrum of the Arts” 

The spectrum of the arts, i feel, is defined as the ways that art can differ and can change. Art is like a liquid, it’s definition is fluid and will change from person to person. because of that over all accepted definition has changed throughout the years, according to Monaco. the spectrum of the arts can also refer to the multiple different ways you can  experience a piece of art. as discussed in class, such differences come up when looking at films. The way reading a novel will change the experience, to the way seeing something performed will change it. some examples of this i could reference are the way that reading a novel is completely personalized to you, the way you envision the characters and the way that they speak and deliver lines is completely union to how you read. Whereas when you watch a film, the casting and their line deliveries are already done for you. Similar could be said about the experience of watching a performance rather than a film. other than the obvious lack of physical depth that a performance has to a film, when you watch a film, you know that you’re getting the best version of it. Whereas, when you are watching a live performance, things can go wrong, like people forgetting lines or props, but that aspect of it being live also gives it a much more human feel and a sense of adrenaline for the people acting in it.