Topic 1: South Asian Art in the Art Institute of Chicago
Your “slow looking” assignment asked you to look carefully at a South Asian object or
image on display in the Art Institute. For many of you, this exercise raised a number of
perplexing questions. What is the subject depicted? Why was this object made? Where
was it originally installed? You will now want to turn to addition sources of information
to begin to address a few of the most intriguing questions that your visual observations
may have raised. You might find very little information about the specific object in the
museum, but can you begin to find related objects that other scholars have discussed.
How is the object in the museum similar to or different from these objects? How might
you account for those similarities and differences? Begin by formulating questions that
will provide direction for your research and serve as the foundation of your paper’s
argument. (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/153539/boar-incarnation-of-god-vishnu-varaha)
General Expectations:
In this paper you will be expected to combine careful analysis of an object (or set of
objects) with some preliminary research in order to advance an argument. Your paper
must have an identifiable thesis statement, and you must provide evidence for that thesis
within the body of your paper. Evidence may include your observations of an object and
information found in primary and secondary sources. For example, if you were to write a
paper on the pillar capital from Sarnath, your primary evidence would include analysis of
the capital and of the inscription carved into the pillar. Secondary evidence would be
your consideration of other scholars’ analysis of the capital. Whenever you cite the work
of another scholar (either directly or indirectly), you must be certain to include a
complete citation of the source from which you took the relevant information.
Bibliographic requirements:
You must create a list of works cited. You should consult a minimum of six sources, at
least one of which should be an article from a scholarly journal. You may count only one
internet source (such as a museum website) toward the six required sources; however,
you are free to use as many on-line resources as you wish. Note: articles from peerreviewed academic journals that are accessed through on-line databases such as J-stor
will count as journal articles rather than as internet sources.
Please consult the Chicago Manual of Style for guidelines on the appropriate formats for
footnotes within the body of your paper and for your list of works cited. You might find
the The Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide to be helpful; use the “notes and
bibliography” documentation system.
Be sure to
include illustrations of all objects discussed in your paper and a list of works cited. These
components should be saved as a single pdf.
