How Did Loos Criticize The Use Of Ornament

Adolf Loos was a pioneering man of his time. He, along many others, was associated in the Vienna Secession, but soon after shifted his attitude towards a different ideology. His estrangement from the Vienna Secession occurs because of his fundamental differing beliefs on ornament than from those of the Secession. Many recall Adolf Loos as the first Modernist and this would not be possible if he had not disassociated from the Vienna Secession. His differing beliefs from those of the Secession can be understood through his essay Ornament and Crime. His central argument of the essay is one that criticizes the use of ornament in architecture. This criticism stems from how he believes ornament is a dishonest expression and the labor-intensive process of
Ornament of certain styles around the time this essay was published relied heavily on previous styles. One style that was making its way across Europe was Beaux Arts. This style heavily sampled from Classical Roman and Greek architecture. One example of a Beaux Arts building that makes use of ornament from the past is the Palais Garnier. This opera house includes many ornaments that would lead one to believe it was constructed like Classical architecture. By including elements like an entablature and a frieze it is being dishonest in how it was constructed. Classical architecture included these details because they were required based on the technology available at the time and the nature the material used to construct behaved in various positions. The opera house is not using the same method to construct and is therefore using ornament to lie to the viewer. Loos criticizes this because he is a believer that modern construction is not reliant on heavy masonry or other intricate construction methods and therefore would not create new ornament while trying to be open about the way in which