79with their actual personalities.^17 This idea was essential to his assessment of moder-
nity. Modernity, in his view, was synonymous with the actuality of tradition. This ac-
tuality, however, is very specific, because one can no longer talk of an uninterrupted
continuity in the tradition. Economic developments and progress have led to a rup-
ture in the organic relationship that existed between individuals and their culture.
The natural development of tradition can therefore no longer continue perfectly
smoothly.
For Loos culture meant “that balance of man’s inner and outer being which
alone guarantees rational thought and action.”^18 Modern people, or rather, city
dwellers, are rootless—they no longer have any culture. Tradition can no longer be
taken for granted. The balance between inner experience and outward forms has
been lost. This is why it makes no sense to attempt to create a contemporary “style”
as the artists of the Sezession and the Werkbund did. A deliberate creation of this
sort does not derive from any existing culture, and it is therefore doomed to remain-
ing superficial and artificial. If there is such a thing as a modern style at all, it will be
one that is not deliberately created.^19 The real style of the time, the style that is in har-
mony with the actual character of the culture of one’s own age, does exist, but not
where one would expect to find it: “We have the style of our time. We have it in
those fields in which the artist, as a member of that association [the Werkbund], has
not yet poked his nose.”^20
The distinguishing feature of this style is its lack of ornament. There is a ten-
dency inherent in the evolution of culture toward excluding ornament from everyday
household objects. Loos argues that “the evolution of culture is synonymous with
the removal of ornament from objects of daily use.”^21 Quality and good taste in con-
temporary household objects by definition means absence of ornament. People who
have genuinely assimilated contemporary culture will no longer regard any ornament
as acceptable.^22 The continuing production of decorative designs, as in the Sezession
and the Werkbund, is a sign of degeneration and pretentiousness.
Since the organic unity that distinguished former cultures has been inter-
rupted by modernity, the only way modern culture can advance, according to Loos,
is by acknowledging this state of affairs and accepting that the relation between in-
ner experience and outward forms cannot be perfect; there is a fissure between
them. The most cultured person is the one who can adapt to every circumstance and
who is capable of responding in an appropriate fashion on all occasions and in every
sort of company.^23 This quality is achieved by imposing a deliberate partition or mask
between inner and outer. The mask must be designed in such a way that the con-
ventions are respected. Loos summed these requirements up with the word An-
stand(propriety or decency): “I only require one thing of an architect: that he displays
propriety in everything he builds.”^24
A house displays propriety if its appearance is unobtrusive.^25 Theoretically, this
means that it must fit in with its surroundings and continue the traditions of the city78