Lotus

Lotus - Body

Lotus

Use the elements of art to guide you as you look closely at lotuses.

Pink, white and yellow blooming lotus flower.

Sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) in the Lily Ponds, 2015. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Two white lotus blossoms and three closed lotus blooms grow out of the water.

Nelumbo nucifera (lotus). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

A pink lotus flower with fish swimming in the background.

Nelumbo nucifera (lotus) and Koi. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Questions & Prompts

You can choose to look at just one of the photos or at multiples.

Color

  • What hues (colors) do you see in this plant?

  • What is the value of these colors? Are they light or dark?

  • What is the intensity of these colors? Are they bright or dim?

  • Which Pantone® colors best match the colors you see in this plant?

  • Do these colors make you feel any emotions? If so, which colors inspire which emotions?

Line

  • Use your finger to trace the lines you see on this plant.

  • Use adjectives to describe the lines you see.

  • Do these lines make you feel any emotions? Which lines? Which emotions?

Texture

  • What do you think it would feel like to touch this plant?

  • Do different parts of the plant feel different to touch?

  • Use adjectives to describe the textures you see.

Shape

  • Use your hands to make the shapes you see.

  • How would you describe these shapes? Are they organic or inorganic? Do they look like anything you recognize?

Form

  • Use your body to mimic the form of the plant. How does it feel to hold this pose?

  • Which smaller forms do you see making up the entire form of the plant? Do you see any organic forms? Any inorganic forms?

Space

  • Use your body to mimic the form around the plant. How does the space around your body feel? How does it affect the way you experience the form of this plant?

Explore how different artists have been inspired by lotuses.

Woodblock print featuring a white lotus flower with big white petals and big green leaves.

Lotus, 1633, ink and color on paper. From the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting 竹齋書畫譜, compiled and edited by Hu Zhengyan 胡正言. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

White circle on brown rectangular mount. Inside the circle is a printed white flower with green leaves. The white flower is surrounded by small purple flowers.

Bouquet no. 8. Prang's American Chromos, Olive E. Whitney, artist, between 1860 and 1897, color lithograph, L. Prang & Co., printer/publisher. Jay T. Last Collection. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. priJLC_PRG_002241.

Black and white magazine cover with a lotus illustration on the cover. Red text at the bottom reads "March" "Cycle Publishing Co." "15 CTS" "1896" "156 Fifth Ave." "New York"

The Lotos : a monthly magazine of literature art and education, Arthur Wesley Dow, artist, 1896, color lithograph. Jay T. Last Collection. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. priJLC_ART_003079.

Woodcarving of lotuses with the flowers growing upward.

Lotus, yellow cypress, Love for the Lotus Pavilion (Ai Lian Xie 愛蓮榭), Garden of Flowing Fragrance (Liu Fang Yuan 流芳園). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Questions & Prompts

  • What do all of these artworks have in common?

  • Which of these artworks do you think is the most realistic? Why?

  • Which of these artworks do you think is the most abstract? Why?

  • What does each of these artworks tell you about nature? What does each of these artworks make you wonder about nature?

  • Which of these artworks do you think The Huntington should display in our art galleries? Why?

  • Choose one of the artworks above. Identify the artist’s use of each of the elements of art in their artwork. Use the elements of art to compare and contrast the artwork with the lily plant. How did the artist use their observations of the plant? How did the artist use their imagination?

  • Take a deep dive exploration into the artistry behind one of the pieces featured, the page from Ten Bamboo Studio Manual.