Adolf Loos
An influential Austrian architect and theorist, he was a pioneer of modern architecture and a critic of ornament in his essay 'Ornament and Crime'.
Quotes by Adolf Loos
The child knows nothing of ornament.
Tattooing is the primitive form of ornament.
The Papuan adorns himself with the same motifs as the modern European.
Ornament is a disease.
We should leave ornament to the prostitutes.
The true beauty of a building lies in its function.
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Architecture is the art of how to waste space.
I build for the man who wants to live a civilized life.
The city is a fact in nature, like a cave, a run of mackerel.
Do not be afraid of being called a revolutionary.
The English do not know what torment awaits them when they will have to live in their own buildings.
In art, as in love, instinct is enough.
The more primitive a people, the more decorative their art.
Ornament is a symptom of degeneracy.
I have discovered the ideal house.
Life is too short to live in ugly surroundings.
The architect must be a poet.
Form follows function, but beauty follows both.
My buildings are not for the masses, but for the elite.