5 facts that will surprise you about Adolf Loos
Exlibris. 1925. L. Steiner / Adolf Loos. Hummel Collection, Vienna. Photo: Gisela Erlacher
Photography of Adolf Loos and Peter Alrtenberg. 1930. Trude Fleischmann. Hummel Collection, Vienna. Photo: Gisela Erlacher
Drawing. House at Michaelerplatz, Vienna. Adolf Loos. 1909-9011. The Albertina Museum, Vienna
Red armchair. 1907. Used by Adolf Loos / F.O. Schmidt. Hummel Collection, Vienna. Foto: Gisela Erlacher
From 14th December, you can enjoy the most comprehensive Adolf Loos exhibition that has so far been seen in the world. Drawings, plans, photographs, models and furniture will transport you into the most intimate corners of the interior spaces that he himself designed. But who was Adolf Loos? We reveal five curiosities about his life and career.
He lived in Vienna in the early twentieth century
The Vienna of thinkers and artists such as Sigmund Freud, Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and Arnold Schönberg. Many of these intellectuals, including Loos, struggled to get beyond the Vienna of the Habsburgs.
He was a great lover of Anglo-American culture
He was a great admirer of Anglo-American culture, particularly of English furniture. This is why a great many of the 120 items of furniture shown in the exhibition are of English influence. You will also find Turkish, Egyptian or Eastern influence.
Considered an anti-ornamentation architect
One aspect which characterises Loos is his struggle for a utilitarian architecture fully at the service of the user: ornaments only got in the way. The interiors of his private homes and commercial premises tended towards austerity and decorative simplicity.
Precursor of the Bauhaus
Precisely because of this simplicity, Adolf Loos could well have been the author of the famous maxim "less is more". With his architectural projects, he came close to the ideas of Gropius, van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
A skyscraper for the Chicago Tribune
In 1922, he planed one of the most daring buildings of his career, the Chicago Tribune Column: a large Doric column inspired by monuments of the classical world and completely covered with black granite.