AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF LOTUS IMAGES IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE ART AND THEIR BOTANICAL CAUSES

Despite the significant impact of social, cultural, and individual factors on artistic creation, which to a large extent shape the produced works, the undeniable influence of natural phenomena on creative activities must also be acknowledged. This paper reviews various types of lotus imagery, summarizes their evolutionary characteristics, and seeks to identify the shaping factors from a natural science perspective. It reveals that the growth and evolutionary patterns of lotus in nature are largely consistent with the representation and transformation of lotus imagery in art. The preliminary conclusion is that natural phenomena significantly influence the selection and depiction of artistic subjects. Artistic creation and the resulting works are completed and formed within the dynamic tension of mutual influence and constraint between the ‘objective’ and the ‘subjective’.