Lahuerta, Juan José, 1954- author.

On Loos, ornament and crime / Juan José Lahuerta ; translated by Graham Thomson.

Revised edition.

Barcelona : Tenov Books, 2015.

127 pages ; 21 cm.

Columns of smoke ; vol. II

On Loos, Ornament and Crime is the most controversial of the essays in the series entitled Columns of Smoke, in which Professor Juan José Lahuerta undertakes an acute and thoroughly documented rereading of modernity, linking the ideas of ​​architecture and ornamentation and exploring the ways these have been treated in print. In the previous volume of this series Lahuerta exploded clichés with his penetrating analysis of Loos's relationship with photography, and here he examines in fine detail the architect's written work, and in particular the texts that engage with architectural and artistic theory and continue the classical tradition of Schinkel, Semper and Riegl -- an allegiance readily apparent in Loos's architecture. Lahuerta also discusses other articles in which Loos confronted his fellow architects over issues far removed from their shared profession, and shows us with tellingly insightful examples how 'Ornament and Crime', the founding essay of modernity that established disornamentation as the signal feature of twentieth-century architecture and culture, belongs to this second category. The ornament that Loos criminalizes, in language charged with the vocabulary of criminal anthropology and bioevolutionism of Max Nordau and Cesare Lombroso, has less to do with the decoration of buildings than with the tattoos, beads and feathers of 'primitives' and degenerates -- women, Papuans, artists and criminals. Lahuerta traces Loos's adoption of pseudo-scientific beliefs that shaped the culture of the early twentieth century, and in so doing dismantles the historical value accorded to his famous text, which in this reading takes on a deeply disturbing significance.--Publisher website.

849392315X (paperback)
9788493923150 (paperback)

Loos, Adolf, 1870-1933 Written works.
Loos, Adolf, 1870-1933. Ornament und Verbrechen.
Loos, Adolf, 1870-1933.
Architecture Philosophy.
Decoration and ornament Philosophy.
Architecture, Modern 19th century.
Architecture, Modern 20th century.
Decorative arts Europe History 19th century.
Decorative arts Europe History 20th century.
Architecture, Modern.
Architecture 19e siècle.
Architecture 20e siècle.
Arts décoratifs Europe Histoire 19e siècle.
Arts décoratifs Europe Histoire 20e siècle.
Authorship.
Decorative arts.
Europe.

History.

Lahuerta, Juan José, 1954- Humaredas.
Columns of smoke ; v. 2.

Location: Library main 291349
Call No.: BIB 234952
Status: Available