Seven Meetings with Adolf Loos

From October to November, we have prepared a series of lectures by Brno art historians Dagmar Černoušková, Jana Kořínková, and Pavla Cenková, as well as the head curator of the Museum of City of Brno's Department of Architecture History, Jindřich Chatrný: we warmly invite you to a meeting with Adolf Loos. The lectures will take place at Gallery G99, ground floor of the House of Lords from Kunštát, Dominikánská 9, entrance fee 100/50 CZK.

1 Adolf Loos and His Works for Viktor Bauer in Brno and Hrušovany near Brno, Jana Kořínková
October 2 at 6:00 PM. Bauer's castle, BVV area, Výstaviště 405/1, 647 00 Brno-center-Pisárky
Art historian Jana Kořínková will present Adolf Loos's works in Brno, particularly his activities for the exceptional client, Viktor knight von Bauer-Rohrfelden (1876–1939), an entrepreneur, owner of a sugar refinery in Hrušovany near Brno, the castle at Staré Brno and in Kunín, but also a thinker, enthusiastic traveler, collector, and photographer. Apart from the marble hall, we will peek into the bedroom of Margarete Bauer, whose interior was probably also developed based on Loos's design and whose part has survived in its original form to this day.

2 European Adolf Loos. Not just Brno traces, Dagmar Černoušková, Jana Kořínková
October 9 at 6 PM.
Brno native Adolf Loos became famous for his unmistakable creative methods, but also as a sharp commentator who provoked the contemporary establishment with his lectures and texts, not just about architecture, although he was largely a part of it himself. Loos's ties to his native Brno, previously considered sporadic, remained almost continuous (family, builders, architects, friends) and, especially in the 1920s, were very intense. Even despite the discord with his mother, he stayed in touch with his sisters and later with an adopted nephew, with whom he perhaps collaborated. Loos's relationships and collaborations with Brno architects and with the editorial board of the magazine Bytová kultura were very inspiring for local creators and left a significant social footprint here. It was in Brno that Loos got to know Bohumil Markalous, whose personality was crucial for him in relation to the Czech lands. In Brno, he also met Jan Vaněk and Karel Lhota, who significantly contributed to the renown of Prague's Müller Villa, his "most beautiful house."

3 (Not only) Adolf Loos and Jan Vaněk. Pioneers and creators of housing culture, Jindřich Chatrný
October 16 at 6 PM.
Loos's observations and reflections on the concept of architecture, the understanding of interiors, and related matters found extraordinary resonance and inspiration in Jan Vaněk (1891–1962), a tireless promoter of progressive and modern tendencies, almost a generation younger. Both Loos's and Vaněk's lifelong works were inherently linked to the ideals of a new lifestyle and housing culture. Their professional activities connected not only during the realization of the famous villa of František and Milada Müller in Prague but also in Loos's work for the Brno United Applied Arts Industries (UP), which Vaněk led from the position of chief director from 1921 to 1925.

4 "Adolf Loos did not possess scientific expertise and did not need it." Bohumil Markalous as a promoter of the works and ideas of architect Adolf Loos. Dagmar Černoušková, Jana Kořínková
October 23 at 6 PM.
Bohumil Markalous was a key figure in the relationship between architect Adolf Loos and the Czech lands. This was true both in terms of his works, literary activities, and social connections. They met at the end of 1923 in Loos's native Brno, where Markalous was then working as a cultural editor for Lidové noviny and a professor at the Czech State Real Gymnasium and Conservatory, and from that year he lectured as an honorary docent on art history at the Brno University of Technology. Markalous's work for the magazine Bytová kultura, subtitled Anthology of Industrial Art, was significant. It was published by architect and designer Jan Vaněk, and Markalous was involved in its editorial board from the beginning. From the sixth issue, architects Arnošt Wiesner and Adolf Loos were invited to participate in the editorial board as well. Five years later, in May 1929, Loos's Tales into the Void were published under Markalous's editorial care.

5 The First and Last Work of Loos for Brno – Herold's and Jordan's House. Dagmar Černoušková
October 30 at 6 PM.
Loos's most famous work for Brno is the renovation of Bauer's Castle in Stare Brno, now in the exhibition area. However, Loos also left behind two other lesser-known marks in his native Brno. The first was the modernization of the house of businessman Karel Herold in Jirásková street (1910–1912), which involved the addition of a garden room and minor interior adjustments. Although the final form of the house's modernization was likely completed by another unknown architect due to discord between Loos and the builder, Loos's handwriting is evident here. The other was a design for liquor merchant Heinrich Jordan (1931), which, however, remained only at the preliminary project level. It was an independent unit of an apartment – a penthouse-type house with a garden terrace. In light of the latest research findings, a completely unknown and very surprising story of this last Loos's work for Brno has been uncovered.

6 On the Parisian Episode of Adolf Loos and Jan Zrzavý, Dagmar Černoušková, Jana Kořínková
November 6 at 6 PM.
In the mid-1920s, during his longer stay in Paris, Adolf Loos associated with Czech and foreign artists and other personalities. His contacts with painter Jan Zrzavý were frequent. They began with brothers Karel and Josef Čapkovi, through whom and with Loos's help, Zrzavý sold the painting Sleeping Boy in the summer of 1920. Among those connected by personal and friendly ties were, for example, Jan Effenberger-Śliwińsky (gallery Au Sacrue du Printemps), Herwarth Walden (gallery Der Sturm), architect Gabriel Guévrékian, composer Bohuslav Martinů, painter František Foltýn, art historians Václav Nebeský and Johannes Urzidil, journalist and writer Richard Weiner, diplomat Štefan Osuský with his wife, and others. In the relationship between Loos and Zrzavý, one can see a distant analogy to the architect's friendship with painter Oskar Kokoschka.

7 Adolf Loos senior, Brno sculptor and stonemason, father of the famous architect, Pavla Cenková
November 13 at 6 PM.
The lecture series will conclude with a look at the work of Adolf Loos's father and the operation of his Brno stonemasonry workshop, which prospered wonderfully and became a medium-sized industrial enterprise run for many years by Loos's mother and nephew. Adolf Loos senior worked primarily for the local elites, especially among significant industrialists. He contributed to the sculptural decoration of their palaces, created their sculptural portraits, and realized monumental tombs for them. Although he was not a "great artist," he belonged to capable craftsmen and entrepreneurs and to the personalities of Brno's cultural life in the second half of the 19th century. The work of Adolf Loos senior is not very well known, although he was a typical representative of Brno's German bourgeois culture. However, through him, one can understand the roots of his son’s genius.


More information >