Adolf Loos 1870-1933; Architect, Cultural Critic, Dandy

Koln: Taschen, 2003. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Trade paperback. Very good. The format is approximately 7.25 inches by 9 inches. 96 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Maps. Bibliography. Cover has back and front folding flaps. August Sarnitz is a practicing architect and professor of history and theory of architecture at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in Vienna. His many publications include books on Adolf Loos, Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffman, R. M. Schindler, Lois Welzenbacher, Ernst Lichtblau, and E. A. Plischke. Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (10 December 1870 - 23 August 1933) was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect, influential European theorist, and a polemicist of modern architecture. He was inspired by modernism and a widely-known critic of the Art Nouveau movement. His controversial views and literary contributions sparked the establishment of the Vienna Secession movement and postmodernism. Loos visited America and became strongly impacted by the Chicago School of Architecture, being inspired by the architect Louis Sullivan and his form follows function philosophy. Loos was interested in the decorative arts, collecting sterling silver and high quality leather goods, which he noted for their plain yet luxurious appeal. His glassware, produced by Lobmeyer, is still in production today. He enjoyed fashion and men's clothing, designing the famed Kníže of Vienna, a haberdashery. In 1920, he had a brief collaboration with Frederick John Kiesler, an architect, theater and art-exhibition designer. Through his writings and his projects in Vienna, Loos was able to influence other architects and designers, and the early development of Modernism. Widely regarded as one of the most significant prophets of Modern Architecture, Adolf Loos (1870-1933) was a star in his own time known throughout Vienna as an outspoken, audacious dandy and moralist who defied the Establishment. His work not only represented the beginning of Modernism, with its stark, unornamented style, but also revolutionized architecture by introducing the concept of "spatial Plan" Architecture, which allowed for economizing space by designating room sizes and heights based on their purposes. Loos also published numerous essays during his lifetime, the most notable of which is the oft-misunderstood "Ornament and Crime."