Crime and Ornament: The Arts and Popular Culture in the Shadow of Adolf Loos, Edited by Melony Ward and Bernie Miller
Published by YYZBOOKS, Toronto, 2002
Book design Bryan Gee
Working with the editors from early stages of the project I contributed a pair of archival photographs as frontispiece and endpiece. They depict Toronto’s civic abattoir in the early 20th century bracketing the book with a local example of incongruous use of decoration in architecture. In this context the sides of beef appear to form an insistent decorative pattern echoing one of the essays (Ornament and Sacrifice By George L. Hersey) and the art project by Spring Hurlbut which both deal with the evolution of classical Greek architecture from sacred groves where sacrificial remains were hung from trees.
”Adolf Loos’ provocative 1908 essay, “Ornament and Crime,” continues to ignite controversy, even outrage. His contentious assumptions have inspired the writers in this anthology who explore ornament in film, visual art, literature, fashion, sports, gay culture, and, of course, architecture. The resulting lively interrogations reinstate ornament as a potent cultural indicator.” – from YYZBOOKS