 Adler attended gymnasium in Carlsbad and Prague.From 1910 to 1916, he studied art history, the history of literature, and philosophy at universities in Vienna, Erlangen and Munich, acquiring his doctorate in 1917 with a dissertation on the origin and beginning of woodcuts.From 1919 to 1924, Adler lectured on art history at the Bauhaus and between 1920 and 1930, he taught art history at the Weimar Saxon-Grand Ducal Art School.