Ornament and Crime

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Ornament and Crime
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Adolf Loos
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:352
Dimensions(mm): Height 181,Width 111
Category/GenreArt and design styles - c 1800 to c 1900
Art and design styles - c 1900 to c 1960
Decorative arts
Theory of architecture
ISBN/Barcode 9780141392974
ClassificationsDewey:745.09409034
Audience
General

Publishing Details

Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Imprint Penguin Classics
Publication Date 30 May 2019
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Revolutionary essays on design, aesthetics and materialism - from one of the great masters of modern architecture 'But art has nothing to do with forgery, with lies. The paths of art may be thorny, but they are clean.' Ornament and Crime comprises a selection of essays by celebrated Viennese architect, Adolf Loos, and cover the full range of design - from architecture to jewellery, pottery to plumbing, craft training to printing. A great enthusiast and great hater, Loos and his ideas were absolutely fundamental to 20th century aesthetics, as well as being very enjoyable to read. He extols heroes and denigrates villains, as he makes quite clear- 'If you want to have a contemporary craft, if you want to have contemporary utility objects, then poison the architects'. The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever.

Author Biography

Adolf Loos (1877-1933) was a leading Austro-Hungarian architect, perhaps most famous for the revolutionary 'Loos House' opposite the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, which caused outrage when it was built in 1912, and the wonderful American Bar, also in Vienna. He wrote extensively on architecture and design, working in reaction to the elaborate mass of decoration celebrated by the Vienna Secession movement. Joseph Masheck, modern art and architectural historian and critic, and sometime editor-in-chief of Artforum, was awarded the 2018 Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Artof the College Art Association.