Posted: September 16th, 2017

South Asian Art in the Art Institute of Chicago

Topic 1: South Asian Art in the Art Institute of Chicago 
The Art Institute of Chicago is located at 111 South Michigan Avenue and easily 
accessible via public transportation. As the museum’s hours of operation are subject to 
change, please visit the museum’s website: < http://www.artic.edu/aic/index.php> for 
additional information. 

Select an object or image from South Asia presently on display in the Art Institute of 
Chicago. In addition to the South Asian materials from the museum’s permanent 
collection, you might also consider the Indian artist Amar Kanwar’s video installation, 
The Lightning Testimonies, on display in Gallery 291. (Note: be certain to select an 
object from South Asia and not Southeast Asia, which we have not studied in this 
course.) After you have selected an object, you should begin by noting any information 
that the museum has provided for this object, such as where or when it was made. You 
should then carefully analyze the object’s physical appearance. Consider, for example, 
its medium, condition, subject matter, composition, scale and possible functions. 

You might also start to formulate some questions about the object. Why does this object 
look as it does? Where was it originally installed? How did it come to be in the 
museum’s collection? (You should notice that certain questions raised by looking at this 
object remain unanswerable.) Finally, at some point in your examination of the object, 
you should make a sketch of it. Your drawing need not be “suitable for framing,” but 
you must turn it in with your hardcopy of the paper. 

After you have completed your visual analysis of the image, you will 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 want to learn how the object 
was made, where it was originally installed, or how it was used. You should also look for 
similar types of objects or images with which to compare the object in the museum. How 
is the object in the museum similar to or different from other related objects? How might 
you account for those similarities and differences? The goal is to begin to formulate 
questions and ideas that will provide direction for your research.

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 a journal article. You may count only two internet sources 
(such as museum websites) toward the six required sources; however, you are free to use 
as many on-line resources as you wish. (Note: articles from peer-reviewed academic 
journals that are access through on-line databases such as J-stor will count as journal 
articles rather than as internet sources.) Please consult the MLA Guide to Writers of 
Research Papers or the Chicago Manual of Style for guidelines on the appropriate format 
for footnotes within the body of your paper and for your list of works cited.