The Private Adolf Loos. Claire Beck Loos

ill at the end of his life. Kriegerbeck’s journal reveals Annie’s misimpression that Loos was “very rich.” When Claire sees Annie with Loos at the sanatorium, according to Kriegerbeck, “They hurled themselves at each other and fought, pulling each other’s hair. Loos, when he saw it, took his [walking] stick … and attacked his former wife,” trying to separate them. But then they all went to lunch as “an orderly family group,” though no doubt Claire’s ego suffered and, Kriegerbeck reports, her body was also bruised.

      What we can tell is that nearly everyone who came into contact with Loos became fanatically attached to him, devoted each for their own reasons and to their own ends. This remains true of his legacy: and so, dear reader, once you know the man in your own private capacity, you too may find him unforgettable.

      The original 1936 dust jacket for Adolf Loos Privat by Claire Beck Loos, with Loos portrait by Hede Pollak, Prague, and script in red.

      An announcement for the book by the publisher states, “In this book, Mrs. Loos, the last wife of the great master who died much too early, tells about the last years of his life, and a great deal about his last works and the people who crossed his path during this time. The form of the story that Mrs. Loos chooses is very lively, and it contains snapshots of immediate freshness. For all his friends and admirers, this book will be a discovery and a reminiscence of this great time. The book will appear in the size of 12 × 17 cm and has roughly 160 pages.”