The Ugly is the first posthumous book by Mark Cousins (1947–2020), the renowned British cultural and architectural theorist and critic who sadly passed away a few months ago.
Divided into three parts—originally published in AA Files between 1994 and 1995—Cousins delves into the realm of the ugly as something broader and deeper than the mere negative of beauty. For the author, "The ugly is," meaning it is far more than a counterpart; it affects beauty so profoundly that it must be encapsulated as its negative. However, in doing so, the potential value of the ugly fades away.
