Origin of the cover art for Magnetic Fields' "House of Tomorrow"

November 25, 2017 5:49 PM

A song from the Magnetic Fields' "House of Tomorrow" popped up on Pandora a half-hour ago, and I've been obsessively trying (and failing) to find the source for the album's cover art. Those are Venetian gondolas, but that doesn't look like Venice. Google doesn't seem willing to reveal the liner notes or anything else that would give me a clue. Help?
posted by lazuli to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Best answer: I'm pretty sure it's a painting of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. A bit of digging got me the liner notes from discogs, which contains an alternate angle of the same scene (note the same golden statue-fountain-thing in both paintings) which is the cover of this book. Here's a photo from a similar angle (original article)
posted by btfreek at 6:12 PM on November 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: (note that the building featured on the cover is not the main festival hall, but rather the restaurant pavilion off to the side.)
posted by btfreek at 6:20 PM on November 25, 2017

Best answer: Here's another view centering on what's gotta be the same building in the center of the cover. St Louis 1904!
posted by moonmilk at 6:20 PM on November 25, 2017

Jinx, btfreek!
posted by moonmilk at 6:21 PM on November 25, 2017

Response by poster: Y'all rock. THANK YOU! I thought it may have been a world's fair but I had no idea how to start looking.
posted by lazuli at 6:22 PM on November 25, 2017