Adolf Loos - A Private Portrait (English and German Edition)

Lively vignettes by Claire Beck Loos, the last wife of the early Modern architect Adolf Loos, are featured in the first English translation of this intimate 140 page biography. Originally published in German in 1936, the book bears witness to the last years of Loos' life (1929-1933) and reveals the personality and philosophy that helped shape Modern architecture in Vienna and the Czech lands. Still today, over a century after Loos began to work, the ideas embodied in Loos' architecture and writing remain of vital interest. Adolf Loos - A Private Portrait will be revealing for all those with interest in the architect, his circle of friends and clients, and his era. **Included on the Society of Architectural Historians' booklist and has received several important endorsements. Dr. Irena Murray, Director of the British Architectural Library at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London writes, **The theatrical nature of Claire Beck Loos' narrative, her ultimately tragic journey and her artist's way of encapsulating the essential about Loos in a mixture of camera-sharp observations is mitigated by an affectionate regard for the brilliant, but deeply flawed man that he was. The book is hugely perceptive and beautifully written.** From Dr. Harry Mallgrave, Professor of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago: **Adolf Loos - A Private Portrait is a highly personable and ultimately a sorrowful book about Loos in his declining years. This translation of a little known biographical sketch by his wife Claire Beck Loos provides a host of important insights into the man, his intellectual circle, and most importantly his approach to the practice of architecture. The memoir is skillfully and lucidly framed by introductory essays and an Afterword.**