1. Introduction
Daylilies are colorful, and not only does the group look like a broad palette of colors, but individual flowers vary in color, with a single flower often having as many as three colors or more. Once sought after and beloved for its unique charm in the 1980s, the Memphis art style has blossomed again with renewed vigor more than 40 years later
[1]. Its use of color is richer, often paired with a variety of high-saturation, high-contrast colors, creating a strongly contrasting, exaggerated visual effect that seems coincidental with the daylily's colors. Memphis design styles are closely linked to popular culture, and China has encountered great cultural clashes and collisions in its exchanges with Western societies over the past hundred years. Standing at the beginning of a new era, Jinping Xi said socialist culture with Chinese characteristics should uphold openness and inclusiveness, inherit and develop traditional Chinese culture, and continuously cultivate and create new cultures. Daylily culture belongs to the category of traditional Chinese culture, where color is the most direct, important and intuitive visual element in expressing the emotions of human life, and the content it conveys is a sublimation of people's spiritual core and cultural beliefs
[2;3]. In order to explore the connection between daylily, Memphis-style art colors and traditional Chinese art colors, this paper presents an analysis of daylily colors with the goal of providing materials and support for cultural innovation in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
2. Literature review
Throughout the extensive annals of history, individuals have cultivated a profound and varied comprehension of floral aesthetics, as exemplified by the synergy between the stark white plum blossom and its frosty surroundings. The juxtaposition of plum with snow elevates the flower's significance from mere appearance to a sublime essence
[4]. Blossoms in hues of white and light pink are conducive to enhancing students' immersion in the academic milieu, whereas yellow flowers fortify the sensation of achievement and optimism among university attendees. Conversely, red flora serves to invigorate college students during physical exertion, aiding them in fully engaging in exercise to alleviate stress
[5]. Such researches offer valuable guidance for practical applications. An exploration into the art of traditional floral arrangements reveals that the Tang Dynasty favored an aesthetic characterized by vibrancy and opulence, whereas the Song Dynasty inclined towards a fresh and refined elegance
[6].
Memphis art is widely used in various types of visual design
[1], and its influence and status in the field of design are significant. However, systematic and theoretical research on this topic is still relatively scarce
[7]. Relevant books include "Memphis: The New International Style" from 1981 and "Memphis: Research, Experience, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design" from 1984. The traditional Chinese "five-color view" has had a profound impact on traditional Chinese color art
[8]. It has evolved through the bright and elegant Buddhist art of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and Tang and Song periods, the fresh and elegant green landscapes, and the light ink colors of Confucianism and Taoism after the Tang and Song Dynasties. Finally, during the Qing Dynasty, "ink divided into five colors" of the literati's ink became the mainstream of Chinese painting and stood out uniquely in the world of color art.
Research into the phenotypic expression and the underlying mechanisms of flower development in Hemerocallis has garnered considerable attention both nationally and internationally
[9⇓⇓⇓-13], with a concomitant rise in studies focused on the cultural implication. There's a growing fascination with elusive hues like blue-purple and green, yet the representation of Hemerocallis colors remains uncharted territory within the socio-cultural lens and the realm of aesthetic culture.
3. Research Methods
The colors of the tepals, patches and eye parts were measured from 164 daylily species collected from the Hunan Botanical Garden during the 2020 to 2022 daylily flowering season, using the Royal Horticultural Society color chart. Daylily colors were resolved and quantified according to the HSL and RGB color systems, colors were clustered using K-Means clustering algorithm, and visualizations were drawn using Python and Photoshop programs. Twelve of Memphis Design's early classics were randomly selected for K-Means clustering, and the results were then compared and analyzed with Daylily colors.
4. Results
201 colors were measured from 164 daylily varieties, see (
Figure. 1), including 59 types of flower patch colors, 110 types of tepal colors and 32 types of flower eye colors. Through K-means clustering algorithm, 201 daylily colors were finally clustered into 5 main colors, which were yellow RGB= (238, 192, 39), orange RGB= (226, 92, 42), amaranthine red RGB= (127, 33, 50), desert orange RGB= (248, 183, 130), and rose violet RGB= (203, 122. 186), the clustering results reflected the color composition of daylily more accurately. The five main colors obtained after Memphis color clustering were misty green RGB = (226, 227, 194), fox red RGB = (187, 69, 42), black RGB = (30, 23, 19), desert yellow RGB = (204, 161, 108), bronze blue RGB = (67, 82, 97). Traditional Chinese cultural colors
[14] in blue RGB = (65, 93, 131), flaxen RGB = (183, 153, 124), black RGB = (38, 31, 31), apricot fruit orange RGB = (185, 96, 63), cotton white RGB = (226, 225, 215).
Figure 1. Flower color chart of 164 daylily varieties |
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The 201 colors were mapped onto the hue plane of the HSL color system to obtain Figure 2. The distribution of flower colors in this group of daylily varieties exhibited a clockwise rotation ranging from 68° to 283°, with predominantly warm colors and only a few close to neutral tones, accounting for approximately 6.9% of the total. In the hue plane, the center of the circle represents a brightness value of 0, while the circumference corresponds to a brightness value of 100. Colors closer to the center are perceived as darker by the naked eye, whereas daylily flower colors appear brighter in orange compared to other hues. Other colors exhibit greater dispersion in terms of brightness. By examining the saturation and brightness violin plot (Figure 3), it can be inferred that this batch of daylily resources possesses higher saturation levels than brightness values, indicating a color style characterized by high saturation and medium-to-low brightness. This observation aligns with people's perceptual cognition when observing daylilies.
Figure 2. Flower color hue projection of 164 daylily varieties |
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Figure 3. Fiddlesticks of saturation S, brightness L of 164 daylily varieties |
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5. Analysis
Based on the test results, it can be inferred that the majority of the flower colors in this batch of daylily resources exhibit warm tones, while a subset demonstrates neutral hues, and the overall performance exhibits a high level of saturation and a medium-low brightness color style, evoking a sense of warmth and vitality. Figure 4 shows the results of clustering analysis on Memphis style art colors. When comparing the five main colors of Memphis style with those of daylily flower color, it is found that daylily lacks contrast in cold tones. Moreover, after clustering, the saturation of Memphis main colors is lower than that of daylily color. Additionally, except for black color in Memphis style which has very low brightness, other main colors have similar brightness levels. The Memphis-style color ratio is balanced, with each color roughly making up one-fifth of the ratio. The rose violet in the daylily coloration is significantly smaller than the rest of the coloration, occupying only about 6% of the coloration, and the proportion of the rest of the colors is balanced.
Figure 4. Memphis style colors vs daylily colorsA-E: Traditional Chinese color ;F-J: Daylily color ;K-O: Memphis color |
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Figure 5. Scatters of saturation S, brightness L of Memphis style colors & daylily colors |
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Memphis-style coloration and daylily coloration are visually similar due to the richness of color variation, but the color styles are still distinct, with daylily coloration being weaker than Memphis due to a lack of cool tones and a weaker contrast in hue; Firstly, daylily color amaranth red brightness is relatively low, in the visual, Memphis style with red colors are distinguished from amaranth red. The Memphis style of the black color are often used for the border, color block, they are with the High brightness colors to form a strong brightness contrast, hue contrast is not the main contrast factor at this level, amaranth red and black played by the color role is also different; Secondly, there is a gap between the clustered Memphis color and one's description of the high saturation and high brightness of Memphis colors. Taken as a whole, the daylily has a weaker contrast than the Memphis, and the two have some similarities, but the daylily has limitations for the time being and fails to spontaneously construct a perfect color form.
After clustering, the main colors of Memphis and the traditional Chinese "five-color view", white, red, black, yellow, green, the five color categories have a chance encounter, and is closer to a part of the traditional Chinese cultural colors studied by Luxi Zhao
[14]. Although these colors are not directly used in Memphis-style art, it is enough to demonstrate that the civilizations of the East and West had their own unique knowledge and insight into the laws of color.
6. Discussion
Based on the analysis of daylily flower color, the green color in this batch of daylily resources has a projected extreme value H of 68° on the hue plane. While the green H value in emerald is distributed between 100°~120°, the green color belongs to the purer green color when the H value is 120°~140°
[15]. It can be seen that the green color of the daylily flowers is a yellowish green, with a large gap, compared to the green color of the emeralds. Daylily flower color breakthrough hue 60 ° ~ 270 ° demarcation line into the cold tone interval, the formation of cold tone color will be daylily flower color breeding must overcome the direction, in order to further cultivate more different flower color daylily varieties. This is also consistent with the current trend of cultivating new varieties with green large flower eyes and blue large flower spots around the world.
There are many colors in the warm tone interval of daylily that are very similar to those in Nanjing Yunjin brocade, such as xing red, zhu red, ya red, mi red, red flame, mu red, yan red, beauty face, musk brown and so on, which are generous, dignified and elegant. The color of Nanjing Yunjin brocade carries a strong sense of national culture and the concept of humanistic art, and its color scheme coincides with the Western digital color theory
[16]. Traditional Chinese colors have gone through several stages, with colors gradually fading or even disappearing
[7]. Eventually, the Chinese ink style was formed, but these color languages more accurately conveyed the philosophical and cultural mainstream of the society at that time. Meditatively, the similarity between the modern choice of daylily color and the traditional Chinese cultural color is no accident, but the blood of consciousness flowing in the veins of Chinese culture. Zhao Changling
[17] and others analyzed that plum flower color has three forms of existence: natural beauty, social beauty and artistic beauty. Previous studies have shown that the bright and saturated flower colors in daylilies such as pink and cream are more popular among the public
[18]. In terms of natural beauty, although daylily colors are relatively incomplete in terms of hue, and it is difficult to form mature formal beauty art works in paintings alone, the rich colors of daylilies are enough to bring people a beautiful visual experience.
Daylilies show diverse landscapes with different plants, humanities, cities, courtyards, scales and other elements in All Tang Poetry
[19]. It is embodied as a creation of man in transforming the objective world, such as Wang mian's Ink Daylily Picture "Splendid Daylilies, blossom at the North Hall." Convey rich social beauty in diverse landscapes. Su Zhe said "Daylilies begin to bloom in the morning, looking like swan's yellow beaks." In ancient times, daylily color is not as rich as modern daylily, which reveals us in modern daylily landscape construction should make full use of daylily rich color, introduce other elements with, elaborate the theme mood. For example, with courtyard scale suitable to create more detailed landscape, choose day-flower type and night-flower type two kinds of daylily together with. In the early morning, the daylilies of the day-flower type bloom with the sunrise, showing brilliant colors. At night, the soft colors of the night-flower daylilies, reflected in the candlelight, radiate a gentle perfume.
Artistic beauty is the presence of human spirituality
[20], aesthetic reflection and aesthetic creation and cohesion in the form of specific material symbols of beauty
[21], daylilies in poetry to convey humanistic emotions including forgetfulness, filial piety and nostalgia, seclusion and relaxation, voluptuous boudoir, gentlemanly sadness, war and peace etc.
[19]. Of these, sorrowless and filial piety, as well as nostalgia, are the most widely diffused and deepest in the heart. In the art of painting, it embodies the image of wishing for the well-being of the parents, the absence of care in this life, the succession of heirs, good fortune, a good life, fidelity, filial piety and patriotism, etc.
[22]. And the values conveyed by these works, with their delicate brushwork and beautiful colors, are the positive spirit and vision of traditional culture.
The times have given a new interpretation to the symbolic image of the sorrowless daylily, and Zhiquan Zhao, the model of the times in RP of China, left five written materials in the last moments of his life, three of which were official documents, one of which was left to his wife and daughter, and one of which was written on a letter paper with five songs, one of which was named "Sorrowless vegetation". Zhiquan Zhao used his life to practice the spirit of Yimeng in the new period, and had long since reached a forget-me status
[14]. At that time, he wrote in the letter "To and fro, you and I, acquaintance is not as good as looking at each other with faint smile, forget about this little grass, forgive about all." Obituaries have not yet been issued, a large number of employees and the public spontaneously went to honor his memory. At this time, by the black ducks (A Chinese music band) interpretation of the "Sorrowless vegetation" wrote "forget-me, forget-me, you said forget-me, but how we can do." Dialogue between time and space with deep emotion, both two tunes warming heart; Ancient sorrowless daylily is based on consanguinity and affection nostalgia, wanting to forget sorrow, more intense thoughts; Contemporary daylily Sorrowless shows a series of strong-willed spirits, in unselfish devotion, in pioneering and striving for progress, in the courage to forge ahead, in the embodiment of the successful which does not have to written my name, in the Chineseization of the Marxist view of the masses of the people; Sorrowless daylily is also the new symbol of the socialist core values. It is also the embodiment of the Chineseized Marxist view of the masses; Sorrowless daylily has also become a new symbol of Chinese socialist core values.
7. Conclusion
By comparing daylily flower colors, Memphis style art colors and some traditional Chinese art colors, the following conclusions were obtained:
(1) Daylily colors are more saturated and less bright, with a richer variety of colors that can form a color contrast similar to, but less intense than, that of Memphis-style art colors. There are similarities in the visuals, but there are differences between the two styles.
(2) Daylily colors, Memphis-style art colors and Chinese traditional art colors are relatively close in part color. The cultural confidence can be seen through traditional Chinese "five-color view". Eastern and Western civilizations have their own unique knowledge and insight into the laws of color.
(3) Presenting its natural beauty, social beauty, artistic beauty, and transferring humanistic emotions and sublimating them into values based on flower color, daylily culture is a small part of traditional Chinese culture, inheriting ancient philosophy and wisdom and glowing with new vitality in the new era.
(4) The samples of Daylilies do not include the latest and popular varieties in the world, so there are limitations of samples; In the future, the research on emotion and psychology can be carried out in a more detailed manner, and the application of research results in the fields of industrial design and visual communication can be actively promoted.
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