Adolf Loos and the Modern Object: A Vision Beyond Fashion

‘The evolution of civilisation is synonymous with the elimination of ornament from the object of use’ (Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crime)

Adolf Loos (Brno, 10 December 1870 – Kalksburg, 23 August 1933) was an Austrian architect, considered one of the pioneers of modern architecture. He was not only a forerunner of the work of 20th century masters such as Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, but a true beacon in his time for his originality and his great autonomy from his contemporaries.

In particular, Adolf Loos was one of the first to argue against the use of ornamentation, identified as a waste of time and material but also as a veritable slavery that the designer imposed on the craftsman: decoration is thus seen as a nostalgic veil concealing the true forms of modernity, embodied in practical know-how.

Cambi Auction House is honoured to present a nucleus of 11 important lots from the bequest of the Triestine painter Amalia Glanzmann, including furniture and objects such as the rare floor clock, designed and selected by Adolf Loos and used in some of his most famous furnishings such as those for the Turnovsky, Mandl or Haberfeld houses. Cambi Auction House would like to thank Dr. Christian Witt-Dörring and the Albertina Museum in Vienna for their research and help in cataloguing and identifying the lots.

In the landscape of modern design and architecture, Adolf Loos stands out for his revolutionary conception of the everyday object. According to Loos, modernity is not a question of form, but of content. This principle translates into an approach that prioritises the function and intrinsic value of objects over their ephemeral aesthetics.

For Loos, modernity is not born on the drawing board, but through a mental and cultural attitude. This implies a deep respect for existing and established forms, which are re-evaluated in the light of modern man’s needs. He believed that a valid and lasting design solution was superior to the passing phenomena of fashion. This thought is reflected in his conviction that the object should serve the proper functioning of a democratic and modern society, rather than being an instrument of prestige or social display.

Loos argued that every social class had a right to its own form of expression. The object, therefore, becomes a means to express the ideal of a democratic society. A key example is his evaluation of clothing, inspired by the ideal of the English gentleman. For Loos, a garment is modern when it is discreet, when it does not draw attention to itself in a refined cultural context. This principle, applied to domestic life, leads to a radical conception: the abolition of furniture as decorative objects. It is not the object that dominates man, but man that dominates the object.

Loos’ thinking is clearly reflected in his statement: ’I can invent something new wherever I have a new task, so in architecture: a building for turbines, hangars for airships. But a chair, a table, a cupboard? I will never admit that we have to change shapes that have been tried and tested for centuries just to satisfy an urge for fantasy’.