Photographs fail to depict the materiality of the space

The idea that photographs cannot communicate entirely the character of a space and its materiality was formulated by Adolf Loos, whose spaces were extravagant and full of rich and high-quality materials, yet with no excessive decoration. Loos claimed that sensually perceiving the materials used in a space, feeling how comfortable the seating units are, understanding the spatial relationships, all were impossible to be done by a simple two-dimensional representation of a photograph.

Resource: On thrift by Adolf Loos