Song of Spring

Song of Spring was among the selected paintings to hang in the Illinois State Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Burgess played a major role in the Exposition: she won the competition to design the murals and decoration for the Women’s Reception Room at the Illinois State Building, subsequently selecting nine other female artists to participate.

In this delightful work, an inviting landscape of cherry blossoms announces that spring has arrived. Swallows fly high and low, additional harbingers of spring.

Before winning the Exposition competition, Burgess studied art at the Cooper Union in New York, and later in Paris, where she exhibited her work at the 1885 Salon. She also distinguished herself as a stained-glass designer and critic thereof.