Ornament and Crime 装饰与罪恶 by Adolf Loos

In the womb the human embryo passes through all the development stages of the animal kingdom. At the moment of birth, human sensations are equal to those of a newborn dog. His childhood passes through all the transformations which correspond to the history of mankind. At the age of two, he sees like a Papuan [a people of New Guinea], at four, like a Teuton, at six like Socrates, at eight like Voltaire. When he is eight years old, he becomes aware of violet, the color which the eighteenth century had discovered, because before that the violet was blue and the purple snail red. Today the physicist points to colors in the sun's spectrum which already bear a name, whose recognition, however, is reserved for the coming generation.
人的胚胎在子宫里通过了动物的进化的所有阶段。人刚生下来的时候，他的感觉印象跟小狗小猫的差不多。他在儿童时代经历了人类历史的全部变化。2岁的时候，他用巴布亚人的眼睛看东西，4岁的时候用古代条顿人的眼睛，6岁用苏格拉底的，8岁用伏尔泰的。到8岁，他认识了紫色。紫色是18世纪才发现的，早先，紫色就是蓝色，蜗牛紫是红色。物理学家现在在太阳光谱里指点颜色。这些颜色都已经有了名字，但对它们的理解还留待将来的人。
The child is amoral. To us the Papuan is also amoral. The Papuan slaughters his enemies and devours them. He is no criminal. If, however, the modern man slaughters and devours somebody, he is a criminal or a degenerate. The Papuan tattoos his skin, his boat, his oar, in short, everything that is within his reach. He is no criminal. The modern man who tattoos himself is a criminal or a degenerate. There are prisons where eighty percent of the inmates bear tattoos. Those who are tattooed but are not imprisoned are latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. If a tattooed person dies at liberty, it is only that he died a few years before he committed a murder.
儿童是无所谓道德不道德的。在我们看来，巴布亚人也这样。巴布亚人杀死敌人，吃掉他们。他不是罪犯。但是一个现代人杀了个什么人，还把他吃掉，那么，他不是个罪犯就是个堕落的人。巴布亚人在他们的皮肤上、船上、桨上，总而言之，在一切他能够用手摸到的东西上，都刺上花饰。他不是罪犯。一个纹身的现代人不是个罪犯就是个堕落的人。监狱里的犯人有八成是纹过身的。纹过身而还没有进监狱的人都是潜在的罪犯或者堕落的贵族。如果一个纹过身的人清清白白地死掉了，这就是说，他死在犯杀人罪之前。
The urge to ornament one's face, and everything within one's reach is the origin of fine art. It is the babble of painting. All art is erotic.
修士自己的面孔和一切可以到手的东西的迫切愿望是造型艺术的开始，这是关于绘画的童稚之见。所有的艺术都是性的。
The first ornament that came into being, the cross, had an erotic origin. The first work of art, the first artistic action of the first artist daubing on the wall, was in order to rid himself of his natural excesses. A horizontal line: the reclining woman. A vertical line: the man who penetrates her. The man who created it felt the same urge as Beethoven, he experienced the same joy that Beethoven felt when he created the Ninth Symphony.
过去产生的第一件装饰，十字，起源于性。这是艺术家为发泄他多余的精力而画在墙上的第一个艺术作品，第一个艺术性的行为。一横是趴着的妇女。一竖是正在跟她交媾的男子。创造这个十字的人感到贝多芬所感到的那种创作冲动，他跟创作第九交响乐时的贝多芬在同一个极乐境界里。
But the man of our time who daubs the walls with erotic symbols to satisfy an inner urge is a criminal or a degenerate. It is obvious that this urge overcomes man; such symptoms of degeneration most forcefully express themselves in public conveniences. One can measure the culture of a country by the degree to which its lavatory walls are daubed. With children it is a natural phenomenon: their first artistic expression is to scrawl on the walls erotic symbols. But what is natural to the Papuan and the child is a symptom of degeneration in the modern man. I have made the following observation and have announced it to the world: The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use. I had thought to introduce a new joy into the world: but it has not thanked me for it. Instead the idea was greeted with sadness and despondency. What cast the gloom was the thought that ornament could no longer be produced. What! Are we alone, the people of the nineteenth century, are we no longer capable of doing what any Negro can do, or what people have been able to do before us?
但是我们今天如果有一个人由于内部冲动而在墙上画性的象征，那么，他不是罪犯就是堕落者。用不着说，这种作为堕落症状的冲动总是在厕所里发作的。一个国家文化水平的高低可以从它的厕所的墙壁被涂抹的程度来判断。儿童的第一个艺术表现就是在墙上乱画性象征，这是自然现象。但是，在巴布亚人和儿童是自然的那些行为，在现代的成年人就是堕落的症状了。我有一个发现，把这向世界公布如下：文化的进步跟从实用品上取消装饰是同义语。我相信，我的这项发现会给世界带来欢乐；但世界至今还没有感谢我。人们过去是愁闷的。耷拉着脑袋。使他们灰心丧气的是他们认识到他们不再能做出新的装饰来。我们，19世纪的人们，难道做不出任何一个黑人和我们之前任何一个时代任何一个民族都做得出来的东西吗？
Those objects without ornament, which mankind had created in earlier centuries, had been carelessly discarded and destroyed. We possess no carpenter's benches of the Carolingian period; instead any rubbish which had even the smallest ornament was collected, cleaned and displayed in ostentatious palaces that were built for them, people walked about sadly amongst the display cabinets. Every period had its style: why was it that our period was the only one to be denied a style? By “style” was meant ornament. I said, “weep not. Behold! What makes our period so important is that it is incapable of producing new ornament. We have out-grown ornament, we have struggled through to a state without ornament. Behold, the time is at hand, 2 fulfillment awaits us. Soon the streets of the cities will glow like white walls! Like Zion, the Holy City, the capital of heaven. It is then that fulfillment will have come.”
过去一千年中人类创造的一切没有装饰的东西都被想也不想地扔掉了，被遗弃在一边随它们朽烂败坏。我们不保存卡罗林时代的细木工板凳，却把哪怕只有一点点装饰得毫无价值的玩意儿收集起来，弄干净，造起豪华的大厦来珍藏它们。然后，人们在玻璃柜子之间满腔愁绪地走着，为自己的无能感到羞愧。每个时代都有它的风格，只有我们的时代没有风格吗？人们认为风格就是装饰。那么我说：不要哭哭啼啼！看，我们的时代不能产生新的装饰了，这恰恰是我们时代的伟大所在。我们已经成长，装饰已经容不下我们了；我们已经从装饰中挣扎出来取得了自由。看，时候来临，我们要抓紧机会。城里的街道不久就会像白墙一样闪闪发光。就像沙恩，那座圣城，天堂的首都。然后机会将要实现。
But there are hob goblins who will not allow it to happen. Humanity is still to groan under the slavery of ornament. Man had progressed enough for ornament to no longer produce erotic sensations in him, unlike the Papuans, a tattooed face did not increase the aesthetic value, but reduced it. Man had progressed far enough to find pleasure in purchasing a plain cigarette case, even if it cost the same as one that was ornamented. They were happy with their clothes and they were glad that they did not have to walk about in red velvet trousers with gold braids like monkeys at a fun fair. And I said: “Behold, [German Romantic writer] Goethe's death chamber is more magnificent than all the pomp of the Renaissance, and a plain piece of furniture is more beautiful than all the inlaid and carved museum pieces. Goethe's language is more beautiful than all the ornaments of the shepherds of the Pegnitz.”
穿黑色道袍的神职人员都接受不了这个。人类还要在装饰面前奴颜婢膝。人已经发展到了足够的程度，以致装饰不再能够引起他们愉快的感觉，以致刺墨的脸不能像在巴布亚人中间那样提高审美效果，相反，倒会降低它。人已经发展到了能够愉快的欣赏一只朴素的烟盒，而一只有装饰的，尽管价钱一样，却没有人买。他们穿着他们的衣服觉得舒畅，并且因为不必穿着有金色流苏的红色天鹅绒长筒袜像游乐场里的猴子那样走来走去而感到高兴。我说：看，歌德临终的卧室比文艺复兴的所有华贵装饰都优雅，一件简单朴素的家具比博物馆里任何一件镶嵌的、雕花的家具都美丽。歌德的语言比派尼兹牧羊人的全部装饰都精致。
This was heard by the hob goblins with displeasure. The state, whose duty it is to impede people in their cultural development, took over the question of development and re-adoption of ornament and made it its own. Woe betide the state, whose revolutions are brought about by its privy councillors! Soon one was to see a buffet introduced into the Viennese Museum of Applied Arts, which was called “the properous fish shoal,” there was even a cupboard, which was given the trade name “the cursed princess” or something similar, which referred to the ornament with which this unfortunate piece of furniture was covered. The Austrian state takes its task so seriously that it ensures that outdated footwear will not disappear from within the boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The state forces every cultivated twenty-year-old man to wear outdated footwear for three years (after all, every state proceeds on the assumption that a poorly developed population is more easily governed).
穿黑道袍的神职人员听到这些就不高兴，而政府呢，它的任务是制止各民族文化的发展，用力去复活和发展装饰。这个由小白脸面首们掌握命运的国家要受苦受难了！很快，我们在维也纳实用美术博物馆里会见到一个叫做“鱼满网”的餐具柜，很快就又叫做“中了魔法的公主”的酒柜，还有类似的一批东西，都以施加于这些不幸的家具身上的装饰命名。奥地利政府如此认真的对待它的任务，以致要确实保证奥匈帝国前线的裹脚布永存不灭。它强迫每一个受过教育的20岁的人穿3年裹脚布而不穿精致的靴子。总之，每一个政府存在的前提都是底层的老百姓比较容易统治。
Well, the epidemic of ornament is recognised by the state and is subsidised with government money. I, however, consider that to be a regressive. I will not subscribe to the argument that ornament increases the pleasure of the life of a cultivated person, or the argument which covers itself with the words: “But if the ornament is beautiful! ...” To me, and to all the cultivated people, ornament does not increase the pleasures of life. If I want to eat a piece of gingerbread I will choose one that is completely plain and not a piece which represents a baby in arms of a horserider, a piece which is covered over and over with decoration. The man of the fifteenth century would not understand me. But modern people will. The supporter of ornament believes that the urge for simplicity is equivalent to self-denial. No, dear professor from the College of
Applied Arts, I am not denying myself! To me, it tastes better this way. The dishes of the past centuries which used decoration to make the peacocks, pheasants and lobsters appear more appetizing produce the opposite effect on me. I look on such a culinary display with horror when I think of having to eat these stuffed animal corpses. I eat roast beef.
     很好，政府赏识这个装饰流行病并且用国家的钱津贴它。但是我却认为这是倒退。我不同意那种反对意见，说什么装饰增加了受过教育的人生活中的乐趣；我不同意那种反对意见，说什么“装饰多么美呀！”装饰并没有增加我们生活中的乐趣，也没有增加任何一个受过教育的人生活中的乐趣。如果我想吃一块姜汁饼，我就要挑选一块光溜溜的而不是一块心形的、婴孩形的或者骑士形的，上面盖满了装饰。15世纪的人不能理解我。但所有的现代人，装饰的鼓吹者认为我对简练的渴望本质上是禁欲主义的。不，实用美术学校里的可敬的教授们，我不克制我自己。过去几个世纪里的那种卖弄炫耀的菜品，用尽各种装饰来使孔雀、野稚和龙虾看起来更鲜美，对我只能起相反的作用。当我走过菜肴陈列处，并且想到我将要吃这些塞得满满的尸体时，我极度厌恶。我吃烤牛排。
The immense damage and devastation which the revival of ornament has caused to aesthetic development could easily be overcome because nobody, not even the power of the state, can stop the evolution of humanity! It represents a crime against the national economy, and, as a result of it, human labour, money and material are ruined. Time cannot compensate for this kind of damage.
装饰的复活给审美意识发展造成的巨大破坏和损失可以不必重视，因为没有任何人，甚至政府的力量，能够制止人类的进步。它至多被延缓而已。我们可以等待。但是装饰的复活是危害国民经济的一种罪行，因为他浪费劳动力、钱和材料。时间不能补偿这个损失。
 The rate of cultural development is held back by those that cannot cope with the present. I live in the year 1908, but my neighbor lives approximately in the year 1900, and one over there lives in the year 1880. It is a misfortune for any government, if the culture of its people is dominated by the past. The farmer from Kals lives in the twelfth century, and on the occasion of 3 the jubilee Procession, tribes walked past which even during the period of mass migration were thought to be backward. Happy is the country which does not have such backward-looking inhabitants. Happy is America!
落伍者降低了文化进步的速度。我可能生活在1908年，但是我的邻居生活在1900年，而街对面的那个人生活在1880年。对一个国家来说，它的居民的文化分布在这么长的时间区段里是很不幸的。卡尔斯的农民们生活在12世纪。还有参加25年一度的大赦庆祝游行，即使在民族大迁移时代，他们也要被看作是落后的了。没有这落伍者和劫夺者的地方多么美好啊！阿美利加多美好！
 Even here we have people in the cities who are survivors from the eighteenth century, and who are appalled by a painting with violet shadows, because they cannot understand why the artist has used violet. To them, the pheasant which the cook has spent days preparing tastes better, and the cigarette case with Renaissance ornaments is more pleasing. And what is happening in the countryside? Clothes and household utensils belong to previous centuries. The farmer is no Christian, he is still a heathen.
在我们中间，甚至城市里，也有些跟不上时代的人，从18世纪来的遗老遗少们，他们讨厌紫色阴影的画，因为他们还不会看紫色。要厨师花费整整一天时间捣鼓出来的野稚他们才认为鲜美可口，他们喜爱有文艺复兴装饰的烟盒甚于一只朴素的。那么，在农村里怎么样呢？衣服和家具全都是上一个世纪的。农民现在还不是基督徒，甚至仍然是个异教徒。
Those who measure everything by the past impede the cultural development of nations and of humanity itself. Ornament is not merely produced by criminals, it commits a crime itself by damaging national economy and therefore its cultural development. Two people living side by side who have the same needs, the same demands on life, and the same income, but belong to different cultures, perceive the national economy differently. The result is that the man of the twentieth century becomes richer and the man of the eighteenth century becomes poorer. I assume that both their lifestyles reflect their different attitudes. The man of the twentieth century can satisfy his needs with a much smaller capital and can, therefore, set aside savings. The vegetable which is appetizing to him is simply boiled in water and has butter spread over it. To the other man it will only taste good if honey and nuts are added to it and it has been cooked by someone for hours. Decorated plates are expensive, while white crockery, which is pleasing to the modern individual, is cheap. Whilst one person saves money, the other becomes insolvent. This is what happens to entire nations. Woe betide the nation that remains behind in its cultural development. The English become richer and we become poorer ...
落伍者迟缓了民族和人类的文化进步；装饰是罪犯们做出来的；装饰严重的伤害人的健康，伤害国家预算，伤害文化进步，因而发生了罪行。如果有两个人比邻而居，需要相同，对生活的要求相同，收入也相同，但是他们却属于不同的文化，那么在经济方面可以看到这样的情况：20世纪的人将会越来越富，而18世纪的人越来越穷。我们假定他们俩各按自己的嗜好生活。那个20世纪的人花不多钱就能满足需要，可以省钱。他爱吃的蔬菜不过是在开水里煮一煮再加上一点奶油。另一个人只有再加上蜂蜜和坚果，并且由人花几个钟头烹调之后才会感到同等程度的满足。经过装饰的菜盘是很贵的，而现代人喜欢用的素白盘子很廉价。一个人积攒省下来钱，另一个人举债。英国人富起来而我们穷下去。
In a highly productive nation ornament is no longer a natural product of its culture, and therefore represents backwardness or even a degenerative tendency. As a result, those who produce ornament are no longer given their due reward.
制造装饰的国家受装饰之害甚至更重。因为装饰不再是我们文化的自然产品，所以它是落后的或者退化的现象，装饰匠的劳动再也不能得到合理的报酬了。
We are aware of the conditions that exist in the wood caning and turning trades, the very low wages which are paid to the embroiderers and lace makers. The producer of ornament must work for twenty hours to obtain the same income of a modern laborer who works for eight hours. As a rule, ornament increases the price of the object. All the same there are occasions when an ornamented object is offered at half the price, despite the same material cost and production time, which works out to be three times longer as that of a plain unornamented object. The lack of ornament results in reduced working hours and an increased wage. The Chinese carver works sixteen hours, the American laborer works eight hours. If I pay as much for a plain box as I would for an ornamented one, then the difference is in working hours. And if there existed no ornament at all, a condition which might arise in millennia, man would only need to work four instead of eight hours, as the time spent on ornament represents half of today's working day.
木雕匠和车木工收入之间的差别，绣花女工和织带女工工资不能容忍的微薄，这是大家已经知道的了。装饰匠必须干20个小时的活才能挣到现代化工人8小时就能挣到的收入。装饰通常提高物品的价格；但是发生了这样的情况：用同样价格的原材料，花费三倍长的时间，装饰过的物品却只有素朴的物品的一半价钱。取消装饰能缩短制造时间和增加工资。中国的雕花木匠工作16小时而美国工人只工作8小时。如果我付给光溜溜的烟盒的钱跟给有装饰的一样多，那么工时的差额就归工人所有了。如果压根儿没有装饰——也需要几千年之后才会有这种情况——人只要工作四小时而不是八小时，因为目前有一半工作量是花在装饰上。
Ornament is wasted manpower and therefore wasted health. It has always been like this. But today it also means wasted material, and both mean wasted capital. As ornament is no longer organically related to our culture, it is also no longer the expression of our culture. The ornament that is produced today bears no relation to us, or to any other human or the world at large. It has no potential for development. What happened to Otto Eckmann's ornaments, and those of Van de elde? The artist always stood at the centre of humanity, full of power and health. The modern producer of ornament is, however, left behind or a pathological phenomenon. He disowns his own products after only three years. Cultivated people find them instantaneously intolerable, others become conscious of their intolerability after many years. Where are Otto Eckmann's products today? Where will Olbrich's work be, ten years from now? Modern ornament has no parents and no offspring, it has no past and no future. Uncultivated people, to whom the significance of our time is a sealed book, welcome it with joy and disown it after a short while.
装饰是浪费掉了的劳动力，因而是浪费掉了的健康。他从来如此。由于装饰不再跟我们的文化有机的联系，他就不再我们文化的表现了。当今制造出来的装饰跟我们没有关系，跟世界秩序没有关系。它不能发展。奥托.艾克曼和亨利.凡.德维尔德的装饰怎么样了呢？艺术家总是精力饱满生气勃勃的站在人类的前列。但是现代的装饰主义者却是落伍的或者病态的现象。3年之后，他要亲自否定他的作品。对有教养的人来说，它们眼下就是不能容忍的；另外的一些人要待几年之后才会感到他们不能容忍。现在，奥托.艾克曼的作品到哪里去了呢？现在的装饰既没有爹妈也没有儿女，既没有过去也没有未来。那些没有受过教育的人们不能理解我们时代的伟大，他们高高兴兴赞美装饰，但是不用很久就会厌弃它们的。
Today, mankind is healthier than ever before, only a few are ill. These few, however, tyrannize the worker, who is so healthy that he is incapable of inventing ornament. They force him to execute ornament which they have designed, in the most diverse materials.
人类比过去更健康了，只有少数人患病。但这些少数人强制健康的、不会发明装饰的工人，他们逼迫他用各种材料制作他们发明的装饰。
The change in ornament implies a premature devaluation of labor. The worker's time, the tilized material is capital that has been wasted. I have made the statement: The form of an object should be bearable for as long as the object lasts physically. I would like to try to explain this: a suit will be changed more frequently than a valuable fur coat. A lady's evening dress, intended for one night only, will be changed more rapidly than a writing desk. Woe betide the writing desk that has to be changed as frequently as an evening dress, just because the style has become unbearable. Then the money that was spent on the writing desk will have been wasted.
装饰的变换使劳动产品过早贬值。工人的实践和所用的材料是浪费掉了的资产。我宣布过我的主张：一件东西能够物理的存在多久，它的形式就能存在多久，这就是说，能够叫人看得下去。我要试着解释这个。一件上衣比一张贵重的毛皮更常常改变形式。夫人的舞会长袍，只打算穿一晚上的，它的形式变化之快超过书桌。但如果书桌像舞会长袍那么快的因为旧式样已经叫人生烦而换掉，那可要倒楣了；在那种情况下，花在书桌上的钱就白扔了。
This fact is well known to the Austrians who promote decoration and try to justify it by aying: “A consumer who owns furnishings which become unbearable to him, after only ten years, and who is therefore forced to buy furniture every ten years, is preferable to one who only buys an object for himself once the old one can no longer be used. Industry demands it. Millions of people are employed because of this rapid change.” This appears to be the secret of the Austrian national economy; how often does one hear the words uttered on the occasion of the outbreak of a fire: “Thank God: now there will be some work again.” I know a good remedy! Set a whole city on fire, set the entire Empire alight and everyone will wallow in money and wealth. Let us have furniture made which can be used for firewood after three years; let us have ironmongery which will have to be melted down after four years, as it is impossible to realize even a tenth of the original labor and material costs at the pawn-brokers, and we will become richer and richer.
装饰主义者知道这一点，奥地利的装饰主义者试图避免这个缺点。他们说：“我们喜欢一个买了一套家具而在十年之后就厌烦它们的消费者，他每隔十年就不得不换掉它们。我们不喜欢那种非把旧东西一直用得不能再用才买一件新东西的人。工业要求如此。几百万人因为那种怏怏的变化而得到职业。”这仿佛是奥地利国民经济的秘密。在失火的时候，我们经常听到一些人说：“感谢上帝，这下又有人可以找到工作了。”要是这样，我倒有了个好主意：在城里放一把火，给国家也放一把火，那么，每个人就都要在钱财和繁荣中游泳了。制造那种三年之后就得当劈柴的桌子好了，制造那种四年之后就得熔掉的小五金好了（因为即使在一场拍卖中也不可能收回工料成本费的十分之一），我们将会越来越富。
The loss not only hits the consumer; it hits primarily the producer. Today, decorated objects, which, thanks to progress, have become separated from the realm of ornamentation imply wasted labor and materials. If all objects were to last as long in aesthetic terms as they did physically, the consumer could pay a price for them which would enable the laborer to earn more money and work shorter hours. I would gladly pay forty crowns for my boots even though I could obtain boots for ten crowns at another store. But in every trade which languishes under the tyranny of the ornamentalists, neither good nor bad work is valued. Labor suffers because no one is prepared to pay for its true value.
损失不但打击消费者；它首先打击着生产者。在没有必要装饰的东西上进行装饰意味着浪费劳动和糟蹋材料。如果任何东西在美观上都能像在物理上那么耐久，消费者就会为它们付价，这样，工人就能多挣钱，就能缩短工作时间。为一件我确信能够充分使用的东西，我很情愿付形式和材料都差一点的东西的4倍价钱。我高高兴兴为我的靴子付了40克朗宁，虽然在另外一家铺子里用10个克朗宁就能买到一双。但是，在那些呻吟与装饰主义者的专制之下的行业里，手艺好坏是不分的。工匠吃亏，因为没有人愿意按它的真正价值付钱。
Thank goodness that this is the case, because these ornamented objects are only bearable in the shabbiest execution. I recover from the news of a fire more rapidly if I hear that only worthless rubbish was burnt. I can be happy about the junk in the Kunstlerhaus (the Municipal art gallery in Vienna), as I know that they put on exhibitions in a few days which are pulled down in one. But the flinging of gold coins instead of pebbles, the lighting of a cigarette with a banknote, the pulverization and drinking of a pearl appear unaesthetic.
这是好事情，因为经过装饰的东西中只有那些质量低劣的才是可以容忍的。当我知道烧掉的是些不值钱的废物的时候，我烤起火来更加心安理得。我为手工艺匠作坊里的废物高兴，因为我知道几天之后它将被加工，而再过一天就会被弄成碎片。但是，扔金币而不扔石头子儿，用钞票点香烟，把珍珠研成粉末再喝下肚去，都会产生不美的效果。
Ornamented objects appear truly unaesthetic if they have been executed in the best aterial, with the highest degree of meticulous detail, and if they have required a long production time. I cannot plead innocence for having been the first to call for quality labor, but not for this kind of work.
经过装饰的东西，如果使用最好的材料、最精致的手艺和长时间的劳动做出来，首先就会产生不美的效果。我起初曾经要求高质量的作品，我不能为我自己辩护这个过失，但是我说的当然不是这类玩意儿。
The modern man who holds ornament sacred as the sign of artistic achievement of pastepochs will immediately recognize the tortured, laboriously extracted and pathological nature of modern ornament. Ornament can no longer be borne by someone who exists at our level of culture.
    一个收藏着作为过去时代的艺术精力过剩标志的神圣装饰的现代人，将会很快认出现代装饰是扭曲的、牵强的和病态的。任何生活在我们这个文化水平里的人都再也做不出装饰来了。
It is different for people and nations who have not reached this level.
至于那些还没有达到这个水平的个人和民族当然就另当别论了。
I preach to the aristocrats, I mean the individuals who stand at the pinnacle of humanity and who nevertheless have the deepest understanding for the motivations and privations of those who stand further below. The Kafir who weaves fabric according to a specific order which only appears when one unravels it, the Persian who ties his carpets, the Slovak farmer's wife who embroiders her lace, the old lady who makes beautiful things with glass, beads and silk; all these he understands very well. The aristocrat lets them have their own way; he knows that they are sacred hours in which they work. The revolutionary would come and say “it is all nonsense.” As he would pull the old lady away from the roadside shrine and say to her: “There is no God.” But the atheist amongst the aristocrats lifts his hat as he walks past a church.
我向贵族说教，我指的是那个站在人类宝塔尖上，而又深深了解下层人民的痛苦和需要的人。他很了解卡费人，他们按照一种特殊的韵律在布匹里织图案，这些图案只有在拆散布匹时才能看得到；他了解织毯子的波斯人，绣花带的斯洛伐克农妇，用玻璃珠和绸子编精彩东西的老太太。这位贵族随他们去；他知道，他们工作着的时间是它们的神圣时间。而革命者会来到他们身边向他们说：“这都是蠢事。”就像他会从路边的十字架上把那小老太婆扯下来，告诉她：“根本没有上帝。”贵族中的无神论者却相反，他在经过教堂的时候会举起他的帽子。
My shoes are covered all over with ornaments, which result from notches and holes: work which the cobbler carried out and which he was not paid for. I go to the cobbler and say to him: “For a pair of shoes you are asking thirty crowns. I will pay you forty crowns.” By doing this I have made him happy and he will thank me for it by the work and materials which will not bear any relation in terms of quality to the extra amount. He is happy because rarely does fortune enter his house and he has been given work by a man who understands him, who appreciates his work and who does not doubt his honesty. He already imagines the finished pair in front of him. He knows where the best leather is to be found today, he knows which worker he will entrust with the shoes, and that they will display notches and holes, as many as there is space for on an elegant pair of shoes. And now I say: “But there is one condition which I have. The shoes must be completely smooth.” By that, I have plunged him from the height of happiness to the depths of Tartarus. He has less work to do, I have robbed him of all pleasures.
我的鞋子上布满了用扇贝和窟窿组成的装饰。鞋匠做了这些装饰但从来没有为它得到过报酬。我走去对鞋匠说：“你每双鞋要价30克朗宁。我要给你40.”我的话把这个鞋匠送上乐陶陶的云端，他将用手艺和材料报答我，远远超出我家的那些钱所该得到的。他很快活，快活很少进他的屋。有了一个人了解他，尊重他的工作，不怀疑他的诚实。他已经构思成了那双鞋。他知道现在去什么地方弄最好的皮子；他知道哪个手艺人能做这双鞋；这双鞋应该如何以最雅致的方式布满扇贝和窟窿。这时候，我对他说：“但是有一个条件。这双鞋必须是素净的。”我的话又把他从乐陶陶的云端扔进灰心丧气的深渊。他可以少辛苦一点，但是我剥夺了他的乐趣。
I preach to the aristocrats. I allow decoration on my own body, if it provides a source of pleasure for my fellow men. Then they are also my pleasures. I suffer the ornament of the Kafir, that of the Persian, that of the Slovak farmer's wife, the ornaments of my cobbler, because they all have no other means of expressing their full potential. We have our culture which has taken over from ornament. After a day's trouble and pain, we go to hear Beethoven or Wagner. My cobbler cannot do that. I must not rob him of his pleasures as I have nothing else to replace them with. But he who goes to listen to the Ninth Symphony and who then sits down to draw up a wallpaper pattern, is either a rogue or a degenerate. The absence of ornament has raised the other arts to unknown heights. Beethoven's symphonies would never have been written by a man who walked around in silk, velvet and lace. The person who runs around in a velvet suit is no artist but a buffoon or merely a decorator. We have become more refined, more subtle. Primitive men had to differentiate themselves by various colors, modern man needs his clothes as a mask. His individuality is so strong that it can no longer be expressed in terms of items of clothing. The lack of ornament is a sign of intellectual power. Modern man uses the ornament of past and foreign cultures at his discretion. His own inventions are concentrated on other things.
我在向贵族说教。我容忍我身上的装饰，如果它们使我的伙伴高兴。他高兴我就高兴。我可以容忍卡佛人的、波斯人的、斯洛伐克农妇和鞋匠的装饰，因为除了这些装饰之外他们再也没有别的方法可以达到生存的较高之点了。我们有取代装饰的艺术。在一天的烦恼和疲劳之后，我们去听贝多芬，或者去看特里斯滕。我的鞋匠不可能这么干。我不能剥夺他的乐趣，因为我没有别的东西给他乐趣。但是一个听了第九交响乐的人，坐下来设计墙纸的图案，那么他不是一个算命的骗子就是一个堕落的人。别的艺术因为没有装饰而达到了意想不到的高度。贝多芬的交响乐绝不是穿着绫罗绸缎、带着花边走来走去的人所能够写得出来的。今天还穿着天鹅绒外套到处走的人不是一个艺术家而是一个插科打诨的小丑或者一个油漆粉刷匠。我们已经成长的更雅致、更精妙了。狩猎的游牧人必须用颜色来区分它们自己；现代人用衣服当面具。他的个性已经如此强烈，一只已经不可能表现在穿戴上了。摆脱装饰的束缚是精神力量的标志。现代人在他认为合适的时候用古代的或异族的装饰。他把自己的创造性集中到别的事物上去。
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