Adolf Loos
9 quotes
Biography
Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos was an Austrian and Czechoslovak architect, influential European theorist, polemicist of modern architecture. He was inspired by modernism and a widely-known critic of the Art Nouveau movement.
"If nothing were left of an extinct race but a single button, I would be able to infer, form the shape of that button, how these people dressed, built their houses, how they lived, what was their religion, their art, their mentality."
"Architecture arouses sentiments in man. The architect's task therefore, is to make those sentiments more precise."
"The work of art shows people new directions and thinks of the future. The house thinks of the present."
"Does it follow that the house has nothing in common with art and is architecture not to be included in the arts? Only a very small part of architecture belongs to art: the tomb and the monument. Everything else that fulfils a function is to be excluded from the domain of art."
"The house has to please everyone, contrary to the work of art which does not. The work is a private matter for the artist. The house is not."
"Be truthful, nature only sides with truth."
"Be truthful, nature only sides with truth."
"Be not afraid of being called un-fashionable."
"It is ridiculous to lay down to people where a thing should stand, design everything for them from the lavatory pan to the ashtray. On the contrary, I like people to move their furniture so that it suits them (not me!), and it's quite natural (and I approve) when they bring the old pictures and mementos they have come to love into a new interior, irrespective of whether they are good taste or bad."