Lojze Spacal 100LET - Slike in kipi

Lojze Spacal Slike in kipi



Lojze Spacal

Slike in kipi



Damir Globočnik

Kraški trubadur, ki poje svojo kraško pesem vsem,
ki ljubijo naš Kras in lepo umetnost

Lojze Spacal je eden osrednjih predstavnikov slovenske likovne umetnosti druge polovice 20. stoletja. Njegov

inovativni likovni opus se je po zaslugi težnje po harmoničnem odnosu med duhovnimi in stilno-formalnimi prvi-
nami vtisnil v kulturno zavest likovne publike kot sklenjena celota, kljub temu da je zanimiv in svojevrsten umet-
nik prehodil dolgo ustvarjalno pot in v širokem časovnem razponu preudarno opredeljeval za precejšnje premene
motivnega, slogovnega in likovnega nagovora. Posamezna obdobja, téme in ciklusi so se brez nenadnih prelomov
prelivali eden v drugega, podobno kot je umetniku uspelo povezovati različne ustvarjalne pristope, med katerimi
je osrednje mesto dodeljeno slikarstvu na platno in les, grafiki ter slikam v mešani tehniki oziroma kolažem.
Posvečal se je tudi freski, mozaiku, notranji opremi, tapiseriji in leseni skulpturi.

Kompleksnemu likovnemu opusu Lojzeta Spacala je bilo dodeljeno pomembno mesto v razvoju sodobne "Sam sem od kraškega sveta
slovenske likovne umetnosti. Ni mogoče spregledati vpliva, ki ga je Spacal kot eden ključnih slovenskih moder- mnogo pridobil. Pravijo, da je
nistov imel na mlajšo generacijo likovnih ustvarjalcev. Sprva je bil znan med primorskimi in tržaškimi rojaki, od trd in skop po svoji naravi.
razstave 1944 cenjen tudi v italijanskem prostoru, njegova samostojna razstava 1955 v Ljubljani pa je bilo eno Toda to velja samo za tiste,
temeljnih soočenj slovenskih likovnikov z modernimi likovnimi tendencami. Z razstavo je zamejski umetnik pod- ki ne znajo prodreti v njegove
krepil modernistične težnje in prijeme, s katerimi so likovni ustvarjalci, na primer Stane Kregar, Miha Maleš, skrivnosti. Privlači me kraška
Gabrijel Stupica, Marij Pregelj ali Spacalov goriški rojak, grafik Riko Debenjak, problematizirali realistični nago- kmečka arhitektura, privlačijo
vor in se oddaljili od deskriptivnega in mimetičnega značaja likovne upodobitve. me barve."

Na omenjeni razstavi se je Spacal predstavil s slikami, grafikami (sodeloval je tudi na prvem ljubljanskem med- (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1997)
narodnem grafičnem bienalu istega leta) in lesenimi kipi, ki temeljijo na modernističnem poustvarjanju regionalne
téme, kulture in preteklosti. Z njimi je vplival na marsikaterega predstavnika mlade slikarske in grafične generaci-
je. Spacalova opredelitev za motiviko primorskih mest in kraških vasi, podano z modernistično senzibilnostjo, je
zlasti zaradi zavezujoče vsebinske podkrepljenosti vabila k sorodnim interpretacijam modernističnega likovnega
jezika v okviru regionalne motivike.

Iz drobcev avtobiografske pripovedi sicer redkobesednega in samotarskega likovnega ustvarjalca lahko izluščimo
nekaj potez, ki nas spominjajo na "legendo o umetniku". Spacalova življenjska in ustvarjalna zgodba nam ponuja
nekaj obrazcev o skromnem fantu, ki je postal velik umetnik, o prelomnih in naključnih dogodkih, ki so pripo-
mogli k uresničitvi neustavljive želje po likovni izpovedi, o vztrajnosti ...

Preprost delavski fant, ki je z rokodelskim delom od desetega leta pomagal materi preživljati družino, je bil zara-
di sodelovanja v ilegalnem antifašističnem gibanju aretiran pri poskusu bega v Švico. V samici rimskega zapora je
prvič začel razmišljati o prihodnji slikarski poti. Med triletno konfinacijo v južni Italiji je v skromni mizarski delavni-
ci kot samouk prijel za čopič. Na umetnostnem liceju v Benetkah je opravil privatno maturo in v Rimu izpit za
profesorja risanja. Poučeval je risanje ter začel - tedaj je bil star že skoraj trideset let - obiskovati umetniški inštitut
za dekorativno umetnost v Monzi in tečaj na milanski Breri. Njegova prva samostojna razstava lesorezov in
monotipij je bila v Trstu leta 1940 prirejena malone na skrivaj. Med vojno znova konfinacija, kazenski vojaški
bataljon, po vojni pa vedno bolj odmevne razstave, uspeh na beneškem bienalu, mesto med vodilnimi italijanski-
mi grafiki, sanjske in angažirane podobe, identifikacija z motivom, likovna sinteza in njeno utrjevanje …

3Slike in kipi

Izbor manj znanih slikarskih in kiparskih del iz zasebnih in javnih zbirk nam omogoča vpogled v razvojno linijo
Spacalovega likovnega delovanja od začetkov konec tridesetih let preteklega stoletja do zadnjih del. Opozarja nas
na najpomembnejša ustvarjalna obdobja, na umetnikov ustvarjalni credo, izhodišča, prelomne točke, raznoliko
motivno paleto in oblikovne prijeme.

Leta 1937 je Spacal začel slikati v oljni tehniki. Med najstarejše slike na razstavi spadata upodobitvi domačije, ki
nas glede na slikarsko fakturo in zasnovo arhitekturnih oblik spominjata na vedute Vena Pilona. Sorodnost je seve-
da zgolj bežna, saj je razpoloženjska nota preglasila težnjo po poenostavitvi motiva in njegovi plastični modelaciji.

Približno v istem času - najbrž kot diplomsko delo med šolanjem v Monzi - je nastala tudi kompozicija z dvema
stiliziranima kopalkama. Slika, ki odraža šolski program in Spacalovo željo po pridobitvi slikarsko-dekoraterskih
del v tržaški ladjedelnici, z omenjenima podobama istrske domačije skorajda nima stičnih točk. Na eni strani težnja
po slikovitosti in na drugi racionalna umerjenost oblik.

Tovrstna dvojnost si bo pozneje - v okviru ene slikarske ali grafične podobe - nadela raznovrstno podobo in
naposled postala ena temeljnih značilnosti slikarskega in grafičnega nagovora, v katerem je Lojze Spacal mojstrsko
povezoval doživeto in domišljijsko, zavestno in podzavestno, pripovedno in simbolno, predmetno in abstraktno,
regionalno in moderno, naravo in kulturo, materialno realnost z duhovnimi dimenzijami, trdoto in liriko …

Težnja po vzpostavitvi lastnega predstavnega sveta je Lojzeta Spacala usmerila v prvo sklenjeno skupino slikarskih
kompozicij. Zgodnja tihožitja, drobne predmete in njihove skrivnostne odnose, figuralne prizore, tržaške mestne
vedute, samotne trge, parke, vrtove in interiere bi lahko najprimerneje opredelili s terminom sanjsko-metafizično
slikarstvo. Kompozicije, ki jih je Spacal konec tridesetih in na začetku štiridesetih let naslikal pod vplivom itali-
janskega metafizičnega slikarstva ter izpolnil s simbolnimi in alegoričnimi predmeti, so za umetnika pomenile
podoživljanje otroštva, v katerem je bil za marsikaj prikrajšan, in umik v sanjski svet, beg pred realnostjo, usodo
Slovenca v Trstu. - …da so bile v teh slikah sanje naših otroških let, sanjske pokrajine, v katere smo se zatekali iz
krvavega življenja. Trpko, toda neovrgljivo dejstvo je, da se človek v dneh nečloveške sužnosti zateče v nerealni,
bajni svet, da se s tem upre sedanjosti. Zato imajo Spacalova dela prve dobe tisti čaroben simboličen prizvok; zato
so predmeti preneseni v magične pokrajine, kjer otroško srce svobodno neguje lepoto." (Boris Pahor, Spacal, Trst 1957)

Kraševka (moja mati), olje na platnu, Spacalovemu "magičnemu realizmu" oziroma "sanjskemu realizmu" so sledile podobe s pripovedno (socialno,
80 x 60 cm, 1949-50 ❚ Karst woman nacionalno) tematiko. V ospredju je slikarjevo zanimanje za figuralni motiv, predvsem za svet malega človeka: s
krepkimi potezami naslikana podoba kraške žene - perice z velikimi rokami je hkrati Spacalov monumentalen
(My mother), oil on canvas, 80 x 60 cm, 1949-50 spomin na mater ...

Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 80 x 100 cm, 1952 V medvojnih in povojnih letih je Spacal oblikoval pretresljive likovne komentarje fašističnih zločinov in socialnih
❚ Untitled, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 1952 krivic. Slike in grafike z motivi talcev, trpljenja v ječi in internaciji ter ruševin kraške vasi zaznamuje ekspresivna
in primitivno-realistična stilizacija.

Formalna preoblikovanja, ki krepijo izraznost figuralnih motivov, srečamo tudi pri freskah in sgraffitih v baročni
cerkvi v Gradnem v Goriških Brdih. Pri edini slikarski opremi sakralnega prostora se je Spacal ozrl po bizantinskih
in trecentističnih vzorih. S kančkom naivne stilizacije pa se je zavestno približal delovanju poljudnega freskanta in
ljudskega umetnika-slikarja ali rezbarja, ki sta naslikala svetniške slike na steklo ali jih izrezljala v lesu.

Pri tihožitjih in vedutah kraških vasi lahko po vojni sledimo težnji po poudarjanju plastičnih vrednot in konstruk-
tivne gradnje, na primer poenostavljenih geometrično strogih oblik kraške hiše ali industrijskega pejsaža. Spacal
se je delno oprl na kubistični princip zasnove kompozicijske celote. - "Moje slikarstvo ni slikarstvo treh dimenzij;
slika ima dve dimenziji, tretja se ustvarja umetno, vidno, kar gre često na škodo barvnih pasov in skladnosti linij,
ki so vzete kot čist ritem. Hotel sem si izbrati najneposrednejše in neprisiljeno izražanje, tisto, ki je najbližje čiste-
mu slikarstvu, slikarstvu, ki noče biti iluzionistično in ilustrativno sredstvo" (L. Spacal, "Moje naziranje", katalog razstave v Galleria

d'arte "Trieste", 1946)

4 Lojze Spacal

Lojze Spacal začne namenjati osrednjo pozornost obmorskemu urbanemu pejsažu. Na značilne motive, kot so "V letih po vojni in kratki fazi
vedute Kopra in Pirana, predmestja z bicikli, delavske četrti, marine, škver (ladjedelnica), čolni, barke in mreže, socialnega realizma je zame
soline z vodnimi bazeni, kanali in vetrnicami, je pogosto gledal kot na scenografsko kuliso in igriv sestav geometrij- nastopilo obdobje mest, urba-
skih oblik, likov in predmetov. nizma opustošenih periferij in
delavskih četrti, supermarketov.
Pri interpretacijah "mesta v zrcalu" (odseva mesta v vodni gladini), "supermarketa" in lunaparka se motiv spre- /…/ Večkratne vožnje iz Trsta v
meni v arabeskno mrežo. Nosilec kompozicijske strukture postane samozadosten vzorec, ki ga slikar lahko spre- Koper, kjer sem bil nekaj časa
minja in dopolnjuje, kot bi zlagal kocke ali zidal hišo iz kart. Kljub igrivosti je vselej prisotna racionalno začrtana zaposlen, so bile povod mojim
zgradba motiva. Spacal ohranja značilno vertikalno in horizontalno zasnovo stilizirane mestne vedute, ki jo preči- 'mestom v zrcalu'. Zrcaljenje
jo diagonale. Pri čolnarskih predmestjih so vlogo navpičnih in vodoravnih poudarkov prevzeli vertikalni koli za form in ritmov v morju sem
sušenje ribiških mrež ter horizontalno poveznjeni in obešeni čolni. Podobno so tudi pri krajinskih motivih značil- čutil nekako muzikalično in
nosti obmorskega pejsaža pogojevale poudarjene navpičnice in vodoravne pasove. moral sem jih upodobiti, kakor
se mi je dogajalo v solinah z
V Trstu rojeni Spacal se je imel za Tržačana in Kraševca. Njegov rod izvira iz Kostanjevice na Krasu; na ta kraj so vetrnicami ali v Savudriji z
vezani otroški spomini na obiske starih staršev, vtisi in doživetja, ki jih je podzavestno nosil v sebi. Sredi petde- visečimi čolni."
setih let se je Spacal dokončno opredelil za primorsko-kraški pejsaž, ki ga je v moderno slovensko likovno umet-
nost v likovnem utelešenju osebne predstave uvedel Veno Pilon. Med pomembne interprete sta se poleg Spacala (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1982)
uvrstila tudi Riko Debenjak in mlajši Vladimir Makuc.

Zanimivo je, da je Spacal ponovno odkril Kras, ko se je za nekaj časa od njega fizično oddaljil (med nekajteden- "Res sem slikal pokrajino,
skim bivanjem v Makedoniji leta 1956). Podatek ni nepomemben; opozarja nas na dejstvo, da bo odslej realni vendar sem ob tem vedno mislil
Kras na slikah in grafikah nadomestil Spacalov Kras. Umetnik je v svojih delih želel zaobjeti likovni izraz in duh na človeka, ki jo je ustvaril.
Krasa, ki ga je opazoval, sprejemal in dojemal samosvoje, onkraj predmetne stvarnosti, v notranjem bistvu. Ko sem ustvarjal, sem v resnici
Posredi je genetski spomin, emocionalni odnos, celostno občutenje nekega prostora, poseben način videnja, razmišljal tudi o figuri, čeprav je
razumevanja, čutenja Krasa - oziroma s Spacalovimi besedami: "Kras moje duše." nisem upodobil, ker se mi je
zdela odveč."
"Kras je kamnit, bleščeč se svet. Kras je tudi trpka in grenka pesnitev, ki diši po brinju, borovcu in apnencu. Kras
je dramatizacija, ki spominja na človekovo izvirnost ... Kraški človek pa je podoben kraški naravi... Sam sem (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1997)
mnogo pridobil od kraškega sveta, o katerem pravijo, da je trd in skop po svoji naravi. Morda je to res za vse, ki
ga ne razumejo, ga ne znajo doumeti, prodreti v njegovo skrivnost. Tem se prav gotovo Kras ne odkrije v svojem
mogočnem veličastju ter, bi rekel, duhovni lepoti … A pravi Kraševci to občutijo in izražajo. Burja, mraz, poletne
vročine, suša v vročih mesecih na polju, težko delo na tej trdi zemlji, vse to ni in ne more Kraševca podreti, kot
ga niso hude in krvave vojne, ki so divjale na teh tleh. Nasprotno: tu se je rodila in cvetela svojevrstna kraška
kmečka kultura, ki se še danes zrcali v neštetih domovih. - Ljubezen do te zemlje je v meni tako globoko zako-
reninjena, da lahko nenehno črpam iz nje in ustvarjam." (Lojze Spacal, izjava v monografiji iz leta 1982)

Kras, v katerem je umetnik sprva morda iskal počitek pred velemestnim vrvežem, vendar pa se je hitro izkazalo,
da je z njim vzpostavil nekakšen liričen odnos in se od njega ne more več odtrgati, postane osrednji inspirativni
vir Spacalovega slikarstva in grafike. V Spacalov vedno bolj prepoznaven ikonografski repertoar so se uvrstile
podobe kraškega arhitekturnega pejsaža, avtentične kraške vasi, skromne kraške hiše, domačije, borjač (kraško
dvorišče), baladur (nadstropni hodnik), okna, znamenja in portali s Kristusovim monogramom ali letnicami, vod-
njak, senik, hlev, lestev, stopnice, cerkvica, skopa kraška pokrajina, trta, polja, kamnolom, kamni, kraška burja,
elementi etnografske dediščine, kmečko orodje, žbrinca (kraški koš za seno, ki so ga ženske nosile na glavi), skrin-
ja, gank, kalune (portali) in drugi kamnoseško obdelani deli kraških hiš.

Opredelitev za motiviko, ki večinoma korenini v kraškem svetu, se je nehote ujemala s Spacalovo težnjo po inven-
tivnem tehnološkem pristopu k grafičnemu tisku in slikarskim tehnikam ter njihovi mojstrski uporabi.

Spacal je opustil oljno slikarstvo in začel oblikovati kolažirane slike in dela v mešani tehniki. Poudariti velja, da
je bila Spacalova pozornost od sredine petdesetih let večinoma namenjena grafiki. V tem času je črno-belo grafiko
nadomestil barvni lesorez. Iz grafičnega medija izvira vrsta formalnih rešitev, ki jih je Spacal uvedel v slikarske

5Slike in kipi

kompozicije in kolaže. Spacal je v bistvu začel hkrati delovati kot slikar in grafik (oziroma grafik-slikar). Medtem
ko bi kolažnemu sestavljanju "slikarskih" kompozicij iz delčkov s poudarjeno barvno in reliefno strukturo lahko
določili izhodišče v Spacalovih, v mešani tehniki in s pomočjo sestavljanja grafičnih matric odtisnjenih lesorezih,
ali pa vsaj pokazali na tesne paralele z grafiko, nas odločitev za slikarske učinke na grafičnih listih in preobliko-
vanje grafičnih matric v slike opozarja na umetnikovo pozornost do slikarskega medija, v katerem se mu je odpi-
ralo več novih formalnih možnosti.

Posebnosti skopega kraškega okolja so pustile sled v značaju kraškega človeka. Vtisnile so mu odločnost, kljubo-
valnost, trdoto, povezano tudi z mediteransko mehkobo, resnost, smotrnost in varčnost.

Z omenjenimi potezami se srečujemo tudi pri Spacalovem likovnem nagovoru, v katerem je bilo vselej pomemb-
no mesto namenjeno redukciji pripovednih sestavin. Njen cilj je osredotočanje na najelementarnejše in bistveno.

S shematizacijo oblik pokrajine in arhitekture, trdo in ostro stilizacijo, zajetjem v strog ploskovni obris ter formal-
nim in pomenskim prevrednotenjem je Spacal predstavil poenostavljen, vendar urejen in perspektivično pojmovan
pogled na motiv.

Viseči čolni, olje na platnu, 193 x 106 cm, Pripovedne elemente so nadomestili konstrukcijski elementi. Značilna je postala arhitektonsko grajena kompozi-
cca. 1955 ❚ Suspended Boats, cijska shema. Organizacija slikovne in grafične ploskve je temeljila na pretehtanem redu in konstelaciji vseh ses-
tavnih delov. Arhitektonska urejenost je zahtevala eksaktnost izvedbe, ta pa je krepila vtis prvinskosti in monu-
oil on canvas, 193 x 106 cm, cca 1955 mentalnosti.

"Vsaka umetnina ima svoj krvni Spacal je motiv pogosto reduciral na ploskovni obris ostrorobih oblik, ki so bile ustvarjene prej z risanjem kot s
obtok: če neka oblika ali barva slikanjem. Osrednji izrazni sredstvi sta konturna črta ter z barvno snovjo in/ali s hrapavo teksturo prekrita ploskev.
Spacal obvladuje prostor z razmejevanjem, sestavljanjem barvnih ploskev, upoštevanjem njihovih proporcev, rit-
ni na pravem mestu, se obtok mičnega valovanja, porazdelitve mas in občutljivostjo za sorazmerja, saj na primer sklenjenost oblike odtehta
ustavi, ravnotežje se prelomi. razgibanost druge oblike. Slika deluje kot pretehtano zasnovana sestavljanka, v katero umetnik premišljeno raz-
Mnogokrat je potreben dolgotra- poreja like, barve in reliefne strukture.
jen trud in iskanje, a v trenutku,
ko smo že obupavali, se lahko Pri tem je Spacal moral oblikovati svojstven vzorec gradnje, razgibanja, interpretacije in poustvaritve prostora - kot
zgodi čudež: najbolj gluha mater- da bi bila opredelitev za osmislitev samosvojega, skrivnostnega prostorskega reda zapisana v umetnikovem pri-
ija zaživi s silno izrazno močjo. imku (spacialen: prostorski). - "Prostor je kraj, v katerem se vse dogaja. Prostor je vse to, kar mi čutimo. Ko ust-
Umetnik je takrat dosegel konu- varjam ne razmišljam, ampak razporejam po prostoru tako, kot čutim. Ta razporeditev se v mojih mislih kar pojavi.
Ko sem delal, nisem nikdar razmišljal o pravilih zlatega reza. Če je kje to pravilo, je to le slučaj, instinktivno rav-
bij oblike in vsebine." nanje." (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1997)

(L. Spacal, izjava iz 1982) V Spacalovem slikarstvu in grafiki lahko sledimo težnji po povezavi oblik, barv in struktur kraškega sveta v likovno
simbiozo. Sinteza je mogoča, saj podobe niso upodobljene po naravi, temveč prihajajo iz umetnikovega spomina.
Končni rezultat je osamosvojitev arhaične kraške pokrajine v znakovno zamišljeno celoto, njeni sestavni deli ali
na primer kraška arhitektura in etnografski elementi postajajo vse bolj znakovno oblikovani liki, spreminjajo se v
univerzalna znamenja in metafore, v asociativne likovne in simbolne znake kulturnega izročila in človekove priso-
tnosti v okolju.

"Ljudska umetnost je vedno Hkrati se je Spacal posvečal tudi "poetizaciji" svojega vizualnega slovarja - povezavi trdih in kršatih oblik kraškega
ganljiva, v njej ni ukan, pelje ambienta z liričnim razpoloženjem in likovno melodičnostjo. Po tej poetično-meditativni plati in prežetosti z
naravnost do cilja. V njej se motivnim svetom je Spacalov slikarski in grafični opus bliže pesnikom in pisateljem kot likovnim teoretikom.
zrcali duša in velika ljubezen
anonimnega avtorja, ki pred- Spacal je bil tip razmišljujočega, zadržanega, sistematičnega in preudarnega umetnika, "iskalec-samotar" - pravca-
to nasprotje desetletje starejšega tržaškega prijatelja in značajskega antipoda Avgusta Černigoja, nemirnega avant-
stavlja svoje ljudstvo." gardista in eklektika, ki so ga pritegnila konstruktivna likovna hotenja in tehnika lesoreza. - "Ustvarjalni proces
traja pri meni več mesecev. Najprej naredim skice, tudi po nekaj sto. Precej časa jih 'pustim ležati'. Pozneje jih
(L. Spacal, izjava iz 1982) ponovno vzamem v roke, jih obnovim, dodelam, če mi niso všeč, uničim ali pa ostane vse skupaj samo pri skici.
/…/ Vedno pomislim, ali sem dovolj dober ali ne, ali sem uresničil prvotno misel. Večinoma sem nezadovoljen
sam s sabo, vendar pa vselej upam, da bo prihodnje delo boljše. Ne poznam pa kriznih obdobij v svojem ustvar-

6 Lojze Spacal

janju. Če umetnik ustvarjalno dela, ne more imeti večjih kriz: notranje potrebe po izpovedi in ustvarjanju so večje
in močnejše kot krize. /…/ Umetnost je raziskovanje in iskanje nečesa novega: suženjsko delo. Umetnik hrepeni
po absolutnem: samozadovoljen umetnik ni več umetnik." (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1977)

Pomembno vprašanje geneze Spacalovega slikarskega nagovora zadeva razmerje do informela in nasploh abstrakt-
nega slikarstva, ki je od petdesetih let vplivalo na njegov likovni jezik, na primer lirična abstrakcija, geometrijska
abstrakcija in slikarstvo znaka. Likovna kritika, do katere je bil Spacal večinoma nezaupljiv, se s tem vprašanjem
ni pretirano ukvarjala, pa tudi umetnik je bil precej skrivnosten v razlaganju svojega oblikotvornega postopka.

Spacalov poenostavljajoč, vedno bolj prečiščujoč se likovni izraz, ki je temeljil v transponiranju naravnega v
abstrahirano podobo, se nepredmetnemu podtonu marsikdaj ni mogel izogniti. Vendar lahko v Spacalovem
primeru govorimo samo o približevanju, ne o podrejanju abstrakciji.

Če najdemo pot v Spacalovo vizualno abecedo in znakovni sistem, njegov likovni svet kljub skrajni geometrijski
stilizaciji nikoli ni abstrakten. Na več slikah z naslovom Pesniški prostor iz sredine sedemdesetih let je Spacal del
slikovne površine površino izpolnil z vodoravno nanizanimi navpičnimi črticami, ki jih lahko razumemo kot pis-
menke, zapis ali stenogram davnega sporočila. Andrejevi križi ponazarjajo preproste plotove, krožna oblika vrtinec
kraške burje ali pordečeli ruj. Zaobljene kvadratne oblike so spomeniki trpljenja pozabljenih žrtev na Krasu. Zgolj
s tremi horizontalnimi pasovi nam je Spacal prikazal požar na istrski gmajni: v ospredju in srednjem pasu goliča-
va s skopo travo, brinjem, rujem (ponazarja jo suha in preperela deska) in v ozadju ognjeno žareče obzorje.

Podobna ugotovitev kot za odnos do nepredmetnega likovnega jezika velja tudi za kamnito ali leseno material-
nost, ki jo je Spacal želel poustvariti ter uporabiti na slikarskih kompozicijah. Vzrok lahko poiščemo v zavedanju,
da spadata kamen in les med osrednje simbole Krasa.

Oblikovanja površine slik, ki spominja na strukturo grobo ometanega kraškega zidu ali kraški kamen (Spacalov
oče je bil kamnar in zidar), se je umetnik lotil pod vplivom informela. Toda o pravem informelu ne moremo govo-
riti, saj se Spacal nikoli ni odpovedal ponazoriti koncepta prostora in kompoziciji.

Spacal v oljne barve meša mleti kraški kamen - tako kot so Kraševci iz prašne mešanice rdeče zemlje, zdrobljene- Kraški motiv, mešana tehnika, 35,5 x 25 cm, 1994
ga apnenca, apna in vode pripravljali malto, s katero so ometali fasade. "Žgoče sonce je dalo oranžen ton. To je ❚ Karst Motif, mixed media,
barva kraških hiš, in to je osnovna barva mojih del. Uporabljam sicer različne barve, včasih bolj hladne, včasih 35,5 x 25 cm, 1994
bolj tople, odvisno od razpoloženja".

Spacal se je zavestno oddaljil od tipičnega informelovskega motiva zidu in ponazarjanja kamnitih struktur. Stroge "Kamen je tako žlahten, da se ga
oblike na kolažih pogosto delujejo kot da bi bile izklesane v kamnito gmoto ali vrezane v omet. Spominjajo nas nisem upal dotakniti, samo gledal
na plemenito kraško kamnoseško tradicijo in graditeljsko prvinskost kraških stavbarjev. Slikar je postal podoben sem ga. Kamen je simbol Krasa,
klesarju in kamnoseku, ki je izklesal relief, skrbno zložil kamnite sklade, okrasil kamen, kamnoseško oblikoval zato ga cenim in občudujem.
gradbene elemente v kraški arhitekturi, ki je "monumentalna v kamnitih detajlih". Zaradi družinske tradicije je Nisem pa ga nikoli skušal klesati.
Spacal ohranil strahospoštovanje do kamna. "Kamen je tako žlahten, da se ga nisem upal dotakniti, samo gledal Preveč ga ljubim - bojim se, da bi
sem ga. Kamen je simbol Krasa, zato ga cenim in občudujem. Nisem pa ga nikoli skušal klesati. Preveč ga ljubim ga oskrunil."
- bojim se, da bi ga oskrunil." (L. Spacal izjava iz 1997)
(L. Spacal izjava iz 1997)
Tudi pri uporabi lesa velja opozoriti na izhodišča v informelu. Les, "ki nas spremlja od rojstva do smrti, od zibelke
do krste", les, s katerim se je Spacal spoznal že med obrtniškim delom, les, v katerega je pri pripravi grafične "Vas v Južni Italiji, kjer sem živel
plošče dolbel in vrezoval, na kolažih nastopa kot samostojen likovni element. Lesena struktura, v kateri je Spacal kot interniranec, je bila obdana z
našel red horizontal in vertikal, krepi snovnost površin. Pravilno umerjeni kosi lesa, ki so ga načeli burja, dež in velikimi gozdovi. Tam sem imel
sonce (najdene lesene deske), pozneje pa tudi plutovinaste plošče in druga reliefna gradiva so preudarno raz- priložnost, pobliže se seznaniti z
porejeni v kompozicije. lesom. Morda sem ga že tam
vzljubil in kasneje sem ga začel
uporabljati v razne namene."

(L. Spacal, izjava iz 1982)

7Slike in kipi

Kraški motiv, mešana tehnika, Čistost linij in ploskev je Spacal podkrepil s koloristično pretanjenostjo. Barva ima vedno konstruktivno vlogo.
116 x 94 cm, 1994 ❚ Karst Motif, Pogoste so zamolkle zemeljske, prstene, peščene, kamnite barve - barve Krasa, barve rdeče kraške zemlje, beline
in sivine svetlega kamna, temnejše rjavine lesa, jesenski ruj, brinje, borov gozd, sinjine mediteranskega neba …
mixed technic, 116 x 94 cm, 1994 "Kras pa še najbolj in posebno ljubim v skromnih barvah in tonih pozimi, ko se sleče vseh barv. Takrat zaživi v
vsej primarni lepoti, intenzivnosti in rekel bi, dramatičnosti." (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1982)

Viseči čolni v Savudriji, dekorativni pano za Izbor toplih ali hladnih barv je odvisen od umetnikovega razpoloženja, motiva, svetlobe. Spacal pogosto uporab-
Gledališče Tartini v Piranu, 150 x 330 cm, 1960 ❚ lja zgovorna likovna simbola - veliko žareče sonce in bledo luno. Kompozicije poživljajo barvni akcenti.
Maloštevilne barve je Spacal z izostrenim občutkom povezal med seboj - kot da bi umetnik ohranil spomin na
Suspended Boats in Savudrija, srečanje z deli ljudskih podobarjev, ki so podobe svetnikov slikali na steklo samo v rdeči, modri in rumeni barvi.
decorative panel for Tartini Theatre in Piran, "Ni prvič, da se to dogaja: zgodilo se je že mnogim! Takšno skrčitev barv opažamo že v freskah 10. stoletja, da
ne govorimo o Tizianu, ki je, kot pravijo, v zadnjih letih uporabljal le tri barve. Cilj je ta: doseči
150 x 330 cm, 1960 maksimalno napetost z najbolj skromnimi sredstvi. Vztrajno delo in čas te prej ali slej privede-
ta do tega, da pričenjaš eliminirati razna sredstva ter število barvnih skal in oblik, toda pre-
desno: Totem, barvan les in kamen, 121 x 27 x 27 cm, ostala potenciraš, da dosežeš čim večji emocionalni učinek." (L. Spacal, izjava iz 1982)
cca. 1965 ❚ right: Totem, coloured wood and stone,
Preprosta, pretanjeno usklajena barvna paleta se sčasoma krči. Bolj in bolj prevladuje belina
121 x 27 x 27 cm, cca. 1965 apnenčastih skladov kraškega kamna. Potomec kraških kamnarjev in kamnosekov se odreče
barvi, nastajati začnejo monolitne in monokromatične, kamnito bele slike.

Poudarjena tekstura in reliefna, mestoma rahlo vzdignjena, ritmično vzgibana površina kolažev
sta najbrž neposreden odmev grafike, pri kateri je Spacal uporabljal tehniko reliefnega tiska.
Pobarvane dele grafičnih matric, sestavljenih iz lesa in drugih materialov s poudarjeno površin-
sko strukturo, je podobno kot naključno najdene ali posebej izbrane kose lesa vključeval tudi
v slikarske kompozicije. Pritrjeval jih je na lesene podlage, povezoval s barvnimi ploskvami,
upošteval je tako haptičen učinek materiala kot igro svetlobe in senc na reliefno razgibani
površini. Tovrsten princip je uporabil tudi pri monumentalnih nalogah, na primer za okras
lunete piranskega gledališča z motivom visečih savudrijskh čolnov.

Eden od najbolj očitnih primerov likovne sinteze - in svojevrsten odraz kraševske varčnosti -
najdemo v Spacalovo odločitvi za predelavo lesenih grafičnih matric v slike. Zgodnje figu-
ralne, iz hruškovega lesa izrezane grafične plošče je poslikal in na ta način poudaril kom-
pozicijska ravnovesja. Polihromirane lesene plošče so se spremenile v plitve "reliefne slike".

8 Lojze Spacal

skrajno levo: Lojze Spacal ob svojem kipu
❚ far left: Lojze Spacal with his sculpture
levo in spodaj: Škrbina na Krasu ❚ left and down:
Škrbina on Karst

Vsestranski umetnik je na začetku petdesetih let oblikoval več lesenih kiparskih objektov. Pozneje je les povezal
tudi s kamnom in z barvami prekril površino bronastih plastik. Spacalove skulpture, včasih imenovane skulp-
toslike, so sinteza slikarstva oziroma grafike in kiparstva. Obravnava površine skulptur je grafična in slikarska.
Leseno površino skulptoslike je Spacal obdelal na enak način kot grafično matrico. Opisni naslovi ter njihova
znakovna (deloma antropomorfna) oblika pričajo, da je Spacal s skulptoslikami želel prenesti v tretjo dimenzijo
motivno in likovno govorico, ki ga je pritegnila v enem prelomnih ustvarjalnih obdobij.
Spacalovo odklanjanje meja med posameznimi likovnimi zvrstmi se je kazalo tudi v oblikovanju njegovega bivanj-
skega okolja. Stanovanje v Trstu in kraško hišo v Škrbini je opremil s kosi pohištva in kaminom, na katere je
pritrdil poslikane grafične matrice. Omaro, ki so jo izdelali avstrijski vojaki, je domiselno pobarval in jo spreme-
nil v objekt. Pripravil je osnutke za izdelke iz muranskega stekla.

zgoraj: Spalnica, ki jo je opremil v svojem tržaškem
stanovanju ❚ on top: Bedroom in his
Trieste apartement

desno: Kraška pobarvana omara v hiši v Škrbini

❚ right: Karst coloured wardrobe in Škrbina house

Relief v kamnu na vhodu hiše na piranski Punti
❚ Stone relief at the entrance of a house
in Punta (Piran)

9Slike in kipi

Traduzione in Italiano su www.spacal.net

Damir Globočnik

'A troubadour of the Karst, who sings his song of the
Karst to all who love our Karst and beautiful art'

'Personally I have gained a great Lojze Spacal is one of the central figures of Karst villages, presented with a modernist sensibility,
deal from the world of the Karst. thanks above all to its binding thematic underpinning,
People say it is hard and mean by Slovene fine arts of the second half of the 20th centu- invited similar interpretations of the modernist artistic
ry. His innovative oeuvre, thanks to its striving for a language within the context of regional motifs.
nature, but that only applies to harmonious relationship between spiritual and stylis-
those who are unable to penetrate tic/formal elements, has impressed itself on the cultur- From fragments of the autobiographical narrative of this
al consciousness of the art-loving public as a complete taciturn and solitary artist, we can identify a few fea-
its mysteries. I am attracted by whole, despite the fact that this interesting and unique tures that remind us of the 'legend of the artist'. The
the rural architecture of the Karst, artist travelled a long creative journey and, over a con- story of Spacal's life and work offers us a few images
siderable span of time, chose to make significant of a modest lad who became a great artist, of the sig-
I am attracted by the colours.' changes of motif, style and artistic language. Individual nificant and chance events that contributed to the real-
periods, themes and cycles flowed into each other with- isation of an unstoppable desire for artistic communi-
(L. Spacal, speaking in 1997) out sudden breaks, rather as the artist succeeded in cation, of perseverance…
combining different creative approaches, within which
the central place is occupied by painting on canvas and This simple working-class lad, who from the age of ten
wood, printmaking and mixed media painting or col- had helped his mother maintain the family by working
lage. He has also devoted himself to fresco, mosaic, as a craftsman, was arrested for his participation in an
interior fittings, tapestry and wooden sculpture. illegal antifascist movement as he tried to escape to
Switzerland. In his prison cell in Rome, he began think-
Lojze Spacal's complex oeuvre has been assigned an ing for the first time about his future career as an artist.
important place in the development of contemporary During his three-year internment in southern Italy he
Slovene fine arts. It is impossible to overlook the influ- took up the brush as a self-taught painter in a humbler
ence that Spacal, one of the key Slovene modernists, carpenter's workshop. He sat the maturitŕ examination
has had on the younger generation of artists. He first at the liceo artistico in Venice as a private student before
became known among his compatriots from Primorska qualifying as a teacher of drawing in Rome. He taught
and Trieste. Following an exhibition in 1944 he began drawing and - already nearly thirty years old - began
to be appreciated in Italy too, while his solo exhibition attending the Institute of Decorative Art in Monza and a
in Ljubljana in 1955 was for Slovene artists one of the course at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan.
fundamental encounters with modern artistic tenden- His first solo exhibition of woodcuts and monotypes in
cies. With this exhibition the artist from across the bor- Trieste in 1940 was held almost in secret. During the
der corroborated the modernist tendencies and war he was interned once again and then assigned to a
approaches with which - for example - Stane Kregar, punishment battalion. After the war came increasingly
Miha Maleš, Gabrijel Stupica, Marij Pregelj and the successful exhibitions, success at the Venice Biennale, a
printmaker Riko Debenjak, a compatriot of Spacal's place among the leading Italian graphic artists, fantastic
from Gorizia, were problematising realistic language and politically engaged images, identification with a
and distancing themselves from the descriptive and motif, artistic synthesis and its consolidation...
mimetic character of artistic representation.
The selection of less well known paintings and sculp-
Spacal presented himself at this exhibition with paint- tures from private and public collections allows us an
ings, prints (he also took part in the first Ljubljana inter- insight into the line of development of Spacal's artistic
national biennial of graphic art the same year) and work from his beginnings in the late 1930s right up to
wooden sculptures based on a modernist interpretation his last works. It draws our attention to the most impor-
of a regional theme, culture and past. With them he tant creative periods, to the artist's creative credo, start-
influenced many young painters and printmakers. ing-points, turning-points, his varied palette of motifs
Spacal's choice of the themes of Primorska towns and and formal approaches.

10 Lojze Spacal

In 1937 Spacal began painting in oils. Among the old- Spacal's 'magic realism' or 'fantastic realism' was fol-
est paintings at the exhibition are two depictions of a lowed by images with narrative (social, national)
farmhouse that in their structure and the design of the themes. In the foreground was the painter's interest in
architectural forms are reminiscent of views by Veno the figural motif, above all the world of the little man:
Pilon. The similarity is of course merely a fleeting one, the image, painted with vigorous brushstrokes, of a
since the emotional note drowned out the desire for Karst washerwoman with big hands is at the same time
simplification of the motif and its plastic modelling. Spacal's monumental memory of his mother…

In roughly the same period - probably as a graduation During the interwar and postwar years Spacal created 'In the years after the war and
piece during his schooling in Monza - Spacal created a moving artistic commentaries on the crimes of the a brief Socialist Realism phase,
composition featuring two stylised bathers. The paint- Fascists and social injustices. Pictures and prints with there began for me a period of
ing, which reflects the school curriculum and Spacal's motifs of hostages, suffering in prison and internment, cities, the urban development of
desire to find painting and decorating work in the and the ruins of Karst villages are marked by an expres- abandoned suburbs and working-
Trieste shipyard, has almost nothing in common with sive and primitive-realistic stylisation. class districts, supermarkets. /…/
the two images of an Istrian farmhouse. On the one Frequent trips from Trieste to
hand a desire for picturesqueness and, on the other, the We also encounter formal transformations that Koper, where I was employed for
rational sobriety of forms. strengthen the expressiveness of figural motives in the a time, were the stimulus for my
frescoes and sgraffiti in the Baroque church at Gradno 'cities in the mirror'. I experi-
This type of duality would later - in the context of a in Goriška Brda. In the sacred building's only painted enced the reflection of forms and
single painting or graphic image - take on a heteroge- decoration, Spacal looked to Byzantine and Trecento rhythms in the sea almost musi-
neous aspect and eventually become one of the fun- models. With a hint of naďve stylisation, however, he cally, and I had to depict them.
damental characteristics of the artistic language in consciously approached the work of the popular fresco- The same thing that happened to
which Lojze Spacal masterfully connected the experi- painter and the folk artist - painter or carver - who paint- me in the saltpans with their
enced and the imaginary, the conscious and the sub- ed pictures of saints on glass or carved them in wood. windmill sails, or in Savudrija
conscious, the narrative and the symbolic, the objec- with the suspended boats.
tive and the abstract, the regional and the modern, In the still lifes and views of Karst villages we can trace,
nature and culture, material reality with spiritual after the war, a tendency to emphasise plastic values (L. Spacal, speaking in 1982)
dimensions, hardness and the lyrical… and constructive building, for example the simplified
geometrically strict forms of the Karst house or the
The desire to establish his own conceptual world industrial landscape. Spacal partly relied on the Cubist
turned Lojze Spacal to his first self-contained group of principle of the design of a compositional whole. - 'My
artistic compositions. His early still lifes, tiny objects painting is not three-dimensional painting; a painting
and their mysterious relationships, figural scenes, views has two dimensions. The third dimension is created
of Trieste, secluded parks, gardens and interiors, could artificially, visibly, which is often to the detriment of the
perhaps most appropriately be defined by the term 'fan- bands of colour and the harmony of the lines that are
tastic-metaphysical painting'. The compositions that taken as pure rhythm. I wanted to choose the most
Spacal painted in the late 1930s and early 1940s under direct and unforced form of expression, the one that is
the influence of Italian metaphysical painting, and closest to pure painting, painting that does not want to
which he filled with symbolic and allegorical objects, be an illusionist and illustrative medium.' (L. Spacal, 'Moje
meant for the artist a reliving of a childhood in which
he had been deprived of many things, and a retreat into naziranje' [My Views], catalogue of an exhibition at the Galleria d'arte
a dream world, a flight from reality, the fate of a
Slovene in Trieste. '…that in these paintings there was 'Trieste', 1946)
a dream of our childhood years, dreamscapes into
which we escaped from the bloody reality of life. The Lojze Spacal begins to dedicate the focus of his atten-
bitter but incontestable fact is that at times of inhuman tion to the coastal urban landscape. Characteristic
servitude, the human being resorts to an unreal fairy- motifs such as views of Koper and Piran, suburbs with
tale world in order to resist the present. That is why bicycles, working-class districts, marinas, the shipyard,
Spacal's works of the first period have that magical boats, fishing boats and nets, saltpans with pools of
symbolic note; that is why objects are transferred to water, canals and the sails of windmills, were often
magical landscapes, where a childlike heart can freely viewed by Spacal as scenery and a playful combination
cultivate beauty. (Boris Pahor, Spacal, Trieste 1957) of geometric forms, figures and objects.

In interpretations of 'the town in the mirror' (the reflec-
tion of a town in the surface of the water), 'the super-
market' and 'the funfair', the motif changes into an

11Slike in kipi

arabesque mesh. The compositional structure is now its immense splendour and, I would say, spiritual beau-
ty… But the real Karst folk feel this and express it. The
'It is true that I painted the land- supported by a self-sufficient pattern which the painter burja [the powerful north wind], the cold, the summer
heat, the drought in the hot months, the hard work on
can change and add to, as though he were arranging this hard land: all of this has failed to defeat the Karst-
scape, but I was always thinking cubes or building a house of cards. Despite the playful- dweller, just as the cruel and bloody wars that have
of the person who created it. raged across this land have failed to defeat him. Quite
ness, a rationally designed structure of the motif is the opposite: here the unique Karst rural culture was
When I was painting, I was actu- born and came to flower, a culture that is still reflected
ally also thinking about the figure. always present. Spacal conserves the characteristic ver- today in countless homes. Love for this land is so
tical and horizontal design of the stylised veduta tra- deeply rooted in me that I can draw on it constantly
I didn't depict it though, because and create.' (Lojze Spacal, quotation from a 1982 monography)
versed by diagonals. In the fishermen's districts, the
it seemed superfluous. role of vertical and horizontal emphases is taken by the The Karst, which at first may have simply represented
(L. Spacal, speaking in 1997) vertical poles used to dry fishing nets and the horizon- for the artist a break from the bustle of the big city, but
with which, it soon turned out, he established a kind of
tally inverted and suspended boats. Likewise in his lyrical relationship and from which he was no longer
able to tear himself away, became the central inspira-
landscape motifs, the characteristics of the coastal land- tional source of Spacal's painting and printmaking.
Images of the architectural landscape of the Karst took
scape are conditioned by emphatic vertical and hori- their place in Spacal's increasingly recognisable icono-
graphic repertoire: authentic Karst villages, modest
zontal bands. Karst houses, farms, the borjač (courtyard), the baladur
(an external gallery giving access to the upper part of a
Born in Trieste, Spacal considered himself both a house), windows, memorials and portals with a
Triestine and a man of the Karst. His family came from Christogram or the date above them, wells, hay barns,
Kostanjevica na Krasu and it is to here that his child- stables, ladders, steps, chapels, the barren Karst land-
hood memories of visits to his grandparents are tied; scape, vines, fields, quarries, rocks, the burja, elements
impressions and experiences that he subconsciously of ethnographic heritage, farm tools, the žbrinca (a bas-
bore within him. In the mid-1950s Spacal finally opted ket for hay that women carried on their heads), rustic
to devote himself to the Primorska and Karst land- chests, wooden galleries, kalune (portals) and other
scape, introduced into modern Slovene art in the masonry features of Karst houses.
sense of an artistic embodiment of a personal concep-
tion by Veno Pilon. Other important interpreters The choice of motifs that were prevailingly rooted in the
besides Spacal were Riko Debenjak and the younger world of the Karst unconsciously coincided with Spacal's
Vladimir Makuc. desire for an inventive technological approach to printing
and painting techniques and their masterful use.
'Every work of art has its own It is interesting that Spacal only rediscovered the Karst
blood circulation: if a shape or a when he was physically distant from it for some time Spacal abandoned oil painting and began designing col-
colour is in the wrong place, the (during a stay of several weeks in Macedonia in 1956). lage paintings and mixed media works. It is worth
circulation stops, the balance is This fact is not unimportant and it draws our attention stressing that from the mid-1950s onwards Spacal's
broken. Very often long effort and to the fact that from now on the real Karst would be attention was increasingly directed towards graphic
replaced in paintings and prints by Spacal's Karst. In arts. In this period the black-and-white print was
searching is necessary, but just his works the artist wished to embrace the artistic replaced by the colour woodcut. The graphic arts medi-
when we are starting to despair, a expression and spirit of the Karst, which he observed, um was the source of a range of formal solutions that
accepted and understood in a unique way, beyond Spacal introduced into his paintings and collages. In
miracle can happen: the deafest objective reality, in its internal essence. It was a matter essence, Spacal began working simultaneously as
material comes to life with enor- of genetic memory, an emotional relationship, a holis- painter and printmaker (or as a printmaker-painter).
tic sensing of a given space, a special way of seeing, of While we could identify a starting-point for his collage-
mous expressive power. In that understanding of feeling the Karst - or, in Spacal's like assembling of 'painterly' compositions from frag-
moment the artist has achieved a words: 'The Karst of my soul.' ments with an emphatic colour and relief structure in
Spacal's woodcuts printed in mixed media and with the
marriage of form and content.' help of a combination of print matrixes, or at least

(L. Spacal, speaking in 1982)

'The Karst is a rocky, dazzling world. The Karst is also
a harsh and bitter poem that smells of juniper, pine and
limestone. The Karst is a dramatisation that is reminis-
cent of human originality… The people of the Karst are
similar to the nature of the Karst… Personally I have
gained a great deal from the world of the Karst, which
people say is hard and barren in nature. Perhaps this is
true for those who do not understand it, who are
unable to comprehend it and penetrate its mystery. The
Karst certainly does not reveal itself to such people in

12 Lojze Spacal

point to the close parallels with printmaking, Spacal's thing we feel. When I create I am not thinking but
choice of painting-like effects in prints and the transfor- arranging across the space just as I feel. This arrange-
mation of print matrixes into paintings draws our atten- ment simply appears in my thoughts. When I worked,
tion to the artist's attentiveness to the medium of paint- I never thought about the rules of the golden ratio. If
ing, in which a range of new formal possibilities this rule appears somewhere, that is merely coinci-
opened up for him. dence, instinctive behaviour.' (L. Spacal, speaking in 1997)

The peculiarities of the barren Karst landscape have left In Spacal's paintings and prints we can trace a desire to 'Folk art is always moving. There
a trace in the character of the people of the Karst. They connect the shapes, colours and structures of the Karst are no tricks in it and it leads
have impressed on them the qualities of decisiveness, in an artistic symbiosis. Synthesis is possible because straight to the goal. In it are
defiance and hardness, combined with Mediterranean the images are not depicted from nature but instead reflected the soul and the great
softness, seriousness, prudence and thriftiness. come from the artist's memory. The final result is an love of the anonymous artist who
emancipation of the archaic Karst landscape into a sym- is presenting his own people.'
We also encounter these features in Spacal's artistic lan- bolically conceived whole. Its constituent parts or, for
guage, in which an important place was always dedi- example, Karst architecture and ethnographic elements, (L. Spacal, speaking in 1982)
cated to the reduction of narrative elements. Its aim become increasingly symbolically designed figures.
was a focus on the most elementary and essential. They are transformed into universal signs and
metaphors, into associative artistic and symbolic marks
Through schematisation of the forms of the landscape of cultural heritage and human presence in the envi-
and architecture, hard and sharp stylisation, a strict pla- ronment.
nar outline, and formal and semantic re-evaluation,
Spacal presented a simplified but ordered and perspec- At the same time Spacal devoted himself to a poeticisa-
tively conceived view of the motif. Narrative elements tion of his visual lexicon - the connection of the hard
were replaced by structural elements. An architectoni- and stony forms of the Karst environment with a lyrical
cally built compositional scheme became characteristic. mood and artistic melodiousness. In terms of this poet-
The organisation of the pictorial and graphic plane was ic/meditative aspect and the pervasion of the motivic
based on the carefully considered order and reciprocal world, Spacal's artistic oeuvre is closer to poets and
relationship of all the constituent parts. Architectonic writers than to art theorists.
order required exactness of execution, while this
strengthened the impression of elementalness and mon- Spacal was the type of the reflective, reserved, sys-
umentalness. tematic and circumspect artist, the 'searcher-recluse',
quite the opposite of his Trieste friend Avgust Černigoj,
Spacal frequently reduced the motif to a planar outline the restless avant-gardist and eclectic, a decade older
of sharp-edged shapes that were created more through and his antipode in terms of character, who was
drawing than through painting. The central expressive attracted by constructive artistic leanings and the
devices are the contour line and the plane covered with woodcut technique. - 'For me the creative process lasts
coloured matter and/or a rough texture. Spacal con- several months. First I make sketches, sometimes
trols space through the demarcation and combination hundreds of them. Then I "let them lie" for quite some
of colour planes (taking into account their proportions, time. Later I take them up again, renew them, finish
rhythmic undulation and the distribution of masses) them off, destroy them if I don't like them, or else the
and through sensitivity to proportions, since for exam- whole thing stays merely as a sketch. /…/ I am always
ple the self-containedness of one shape is compensated thinking am I good enough or not, have I realised my
by the movement of another shape. The painting func- original idea. For the most part I am dissatisfied with
tions as a carefully devised puzzle, in which the artist myself, but I am always hoping that my future work
deliberately arranges figures, colours and relief struc- will be better. I have never had crisis periods in my
tures. creative work. If an artist is working creatively he can-
not have major crises: inner needs for communication
Here Spacal had to formulate a unique model of con- and creation are greater and more powerful than
struction, articulation and interpretation of space - as crises. /…/ Art is an exploration and a search for
though the decision to try and make sense of the something new: slavish work. The artist yearns for the
unique and mysterious spatial order were contained in absolute: a self-satisfied artist is no longer an artist.'
the artist's surname (Spacal, pronounced 'spatsal', sug-
gests the Italian spaziale, meaning 'spatial'). - 'Space is (L. Spacal, speaking in 1977)
the place where everything happens. Space is every-

13Slike in kipi

'The village in southern Italy The important question of the genesis of Spacal's artis- sun gave an orange tint. This is the colour of Karst
where I was interned was sur- tic language concerns his relationship with Art Informel houses, and the basic colour of my works. I actually
and abstract painting in general, which from the 1950s use various colours, sometimes cooler, sometimes
rounded by great forests. onwards influenced his artistic language, for example warmer, depending on my mood.'
There I had the opportunity Lyrical Abstraction, Geometric Abstraction and the
to get intimately acquainted with painting of the sign. Art criticism, which Spacal for the Spacal consciously distanced himself from the typical
wood. Perhaps I even fell in love most part mistrusted, has not devoted much attention Art Informel motif of the wall and from the illustration
with it there, and later began to this question, while even the artist himself was quite of stone structures. The severe shapes in his collages
using it for various purposes.' secretive in his explanation of his creative process. often give the impression that they are chiselled into a
stone mass or engraved in plaster. They remind us of
(L. Spacal, speaking in 1982) Spacal's simplifying, increasingly purified artistic the noble stone-cutting tradition of the Karst and the
expression, based on the transposition of the natural to elementalness of the Karst builders. The painter
the abstracted image, was often unable to avoid an became similar to the stonemason and the stonecutter
abstract undertone. However in Spacal's case, we can who carved reliefs, carefully positioned stone blocks,
only talk about an approach to abstraction, and not dressed stone, and shaped the elements of Karst archi-
subjection to it. tecture, which is 'monumental in stone details.'
Because of his family tradition, Spacal never lost his
If we find a way into Spacal's visual alphabet and sys- awe of stone. 'Stone is so noble that I have never
tem of symbols, his artistic world, despite its extreme dared touch it. I have only looked at it. Stone is the
geometric stylisation, is never abstract. In the series of symbol of the Karst and therefore I esteem and admire
paintings entitled Pesniški prostor (Poetical Space) it. But I have never tried to sculpt it. I love it too much
from the mid-1970s, Spacal filled part of the picture sur- - I am afraid that I would profane it.'
face with a horizontal series of vertical lines which we
can understand as letters, a written record or a short- (L. Spacal, speaking in 1997)
hand note of an ancient message. Diagonal crosses
illustrate simple fences, a circular shape is the swirl of In his use of wood, too, it is worth drawing attention to
the Karst burja or the red sumach tree. Rounded square starting-points in Art Informel. Wood, 'which accom-
shapes are monuments to the suffering of forgotten vic- panies from birth to death, from cradle to coffin',
tims in the Karst. Three horizontal bands are all Spacal wood, which Spacal first got to know when working as
needs to show us a fire on the Istrian heath: in the fore- a craftsman, wood which he hollowed and chiselled
ground and the central band, barren land with scant when preparing blocks for woodcuts, appears in the
grass, juniper, sumach (illustrated by a dry and weath- collages as an independent artistic element. The wood-
er-beaten board), and in the background the fiery glow en structure, in which Spacal found an order of hori-
of the horizon. zontals and verticals, strengthens the materiality of sur-
faces. Carefully measured pieces of wood damaged by
A finding similar to that concerning his relationship wind, rain and sun (found wooden boards), and later
with abstract artistic language applies to the stone or cork tablets and other relief materials, are arranged in
wooden materiality that Spacal wished to create and the compositions in a deliberate way.
use in his painted compositions. We can seek the rea-
son for this in the awareness that stone and wood Spacal strengthened the purity of lines and planes with
belong among the main symbols of the Karst. The artist subtlety in the use of colour. Colour always has a con-
tackled the formation of the surface of his paintings, structive role. Muted colours of earth, clay, sand and
which is reminiscent of the structure of a rough-plas- stone are frequent - the colours of the Karst, the colours
tered Karst wall or Karst stone (Spacal's father was a of the red Karst soil, the whites and greys of bright
stonecutter and mason), under the influence of Art stone, the darker browns of wood, the autumnal
Informel. However we cannot talk about true Art sumach and juniper, pine woods, the blues of the
Informel, since Spacal never renounced the illustration Mediterranean sky… 'But I love the Karst most of all in
of the concept of space or composition. the humble colours and shades of winter, when it sheds
all its colours. That is when it comes to life in all its pri-
Spacal mixed ground Karst stone into oil paints - just as mary beauty, intensity and, would say, drama.' (L. Spacal,
Karst-dwellers used to prepare the plaster for the out-
side walls of their houses from a dusty mixture of red speaking in 1982)
soil, crushed limestone, lime and water. 'The burning
The choice of warm or cool colours depends on the
artist's mood, the motif, the light. Spacal frequently

14 Lojze Spacal

uses two eloquent artistic symbols - a great glowing sun In the early 1950s this all-round artist designed a series
and a pale moon. The compositions are enlivened by of wooden sculptures. Later he also joined wood with
colour accents. With a sure instinct, Spacal linked stone and covered the surface of bronze statues with
together a small number of colours - as though the artist colours. Spacal's sculptures, sometimes called sculpture
conserved a memory of an encounter with works by paintings, are a synthesis of painting or printmaking
folk artists who painted images of saints on glass using and sculpture. The treatment of the surface of the sculp-
only red, blue and yellow. 'It is not the first time that tures belongs to printmaking and to painting. Spacal
this has happened: it has already happened to many treated the wooden surface of the sculpture painting in
artists! We can observe this reduction of colours even the same way as a print matrix. The descriptive titles
in the frescoes of the 10th century, not to mention and their symbolic (partly anthropomorphic) shape are
Titian, who in his final years apparently only used three evidence that with these sculpture paintings Spacal
colours. The aim is this: to achieve maximum tension wished to transfer his motivic and artistic language into
with the most limited means. Persevering work and the third dimension that attracted him in one of his
time sooner or later bring you to a point where you important creative periods.
start to eliminate various media and the number of
colour scales and forms, but you intensify those that Spacal's rejection of the boundaries between individual
remain so as to achieve the greatest possible emotional artistic genres was also reflected in the design of his liv-
effect.' (L. Spacal, speaking in 1982) ing environment. He furnished his flat in Trieste and his
Karst house in Škrbina with pieces of furniture and a
The simple, subtly harmonised palette is reduced over fireplace, to which he attached painted print matrixes.
time. The whiteness of limestone blocks of Karst stone A wardrobe made by Austrian soldiers was thoughtful-
becomes increasingly dominant. The descendant of ly painted and transformed into an object. He prepared
Karst stonecutters and stonemasons relinquishes colour sketches for products made from Murano glass.
and begins to create monolithic and monochromatic
stone-white paintings.

The emphasised texture and the relief surface, slightly
raised in places and rhythmically undulating, of the
collages are probably a direct echo of printmaking,
where Spacal used a relief print technique. In the
same way that he incorporated into his paintings
pieces of wood found at random or specially chosen,
Spacal also began using painted sections of print
matrixes, made of wood and other materials with a
pronounced surface structure, in his compositions.
He attached them to wooden bases and connected
them with colour planes, thus taking into account
both the haptic effect of the material and the play of
light and shades on the surface relief. He also
employed this principle in monumental projects such
as the decoration of the lunette of the theatre in Piran
with the motif of the suspended boats in Savudrija.

One of the clearest examples of artistic synthesis - and
a unique reflection of the thriftiness of the Karst-dweller
- can be found in Spacal's decision to turn woodblocks
that had served as print matrixes into paintings. By
painting his early figural woodblocks carved from pear-
wood, he emphasised compositional balances. The
polychromed woodblocks were transformed into shal-
low 'relief paintings'.

15Slike in kipi

16 Lojze Spacal

Dela

Slike in kipi

17Slike in kipi

na strani 16: Brez naslova, mešana tehnika, 89,5 x 80 cm, cca. 1937
❚ on page 16: Untitled, mixed media, 89,5 x 80 cm, cca. 1937

Portret žene, olje na lesu, 38 x 34 cm, 1940 ❚ Portrait of My Wife,
oil on wood, 38 x 34 cm, 1940
Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 80 x 100 cm, 1952 ❚ Untitled, oil on
canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 1952

18 Lojze Spacal

Magična mrtva narava s školjkami, olje na lesu, 32 x 43 cm, 1940 ❚ Magic Still Life with Shells, oil on wood, 32 x 43 cm, 1940

19Slike in kipi

Sejem vaz, olje na vezani plošci, 44 x 50 cm, 1944 ❚ Vase Fair, oil on wood, 44 x 50 cm, 1944

Magično tihožitje, tempera na platnu, 49,5 x 53 cm, cca. 1939-1940 ❚ Magic Still Life,
tempera on canvas, 49,5 x 53 cm, cca. 1939 -1940
Magično tihožitje, olje na lesu, 54,5 x 49,5 cm, 1939 ❚ Magic Still Life, oil on wood,
54,5 x 49,5 cm, 1939

20 Lojze Spacal

Čarodejeva soba, olje na platnu, 65 x 50 cm, 1943 ❚ Magician's Room, oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm, 1943

21Slike in kipi

Istrska pokrajina, olje na lesu, 36 x 50 cm, 1938 ❚ Istrian Landscape, oil on wood, 36 x 50 cm, 1938

Istrska pokrajina, olje na lesu, 36 x 50 cm, 1938 ❚ Istrian Landscape, oil on wood, 36 x 50 cm, 1938

22 Lojze Spacal

Istrska pokrajina, olje na lesu, 35 x 39,5 cm, 1941 ❚ Istrian Landscape, oil on wood, 35 x 39,5 cm, 1941

23Slike in kipi

Brez naslova, olje na lesu, 40 x 49,7 cm, 1950 ❚ Untitled, oil on wood, 40 x 49,7 cm, 1950

24 Lojze Spacal

Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 80 x 100 cm, 1952
❚ Untitled, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 1952

Škver na počitku, olje na platnu, 80 x 100 cm, 1951
❚ Idle Shipyard, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 1951

25Slike in kipi

Piranski motiv, olje na platnu, 73,5 x 60,5 cm,
1951 ❚ Motif from Piran, oil on canvas,
73,5 x 60,5 cm, 1951

26 Lojze Spacal

Hiše in okna, olje na platnu, 59,5 x 79,5 cm,
1953 ❚ Houses and Windows,
oil on canvas, 59,5 x 79,5 cm, 1953

Soline, akril na lesu, 50 x 40 cm, 1955 ❚
Saltworks, acryl on wood, 50 x 40 cm, 1955

27Slike in kipi

Supermarket, pobarvana grafična matrica, 98 x 70 cm, 1953-65 ❚ Supermarket, coloured woodblock, 98 x 70 cm, 1953-65

28 Lojze Spacal

Onesnaženo mestece, olje na platnu, 80 x 119,5 cm, 1955 ❚ Polluted Little Town, oil on canvas, 80 x 119,5 cm, 1955

Lesena ograja, mešana tehnika, 40 x 52 cm, 1970 ❚ Wooden Fence, mixed media, 40 x 52 cm, 1970

30 Lojze Spacal

Magični prostor, mešana tehnika, 80 x 60 cm, 1977
❚ Magic Space, mixed media, 80 x 60 cm, 1977

Brez naslova, mešana tehnika, 52,5 x 40 cm, 1959
❚ Untitled, mixed media, 52,5 x 40 cm, 1959

31Slike in kipi

Soline, olje na platnu, 80 x 100 cm, 1959 ❚ Saltworks, oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, 1959

32 Lojze Spacal

Grm rdečega ruja, mešana tehnika,
85 x 60 cm, 1975 ❚ Red Sumach Tree, mixed
media, 85 x 60 cm, 1975
Soline, les, 69 x 109,5 cm, cca. 1964 ❚ Saltworks, wood, 69 x 109,5 cm, cca. 1964

33Slike in kipi

Vrtinec vetra, olje na platnu, 30 x 24 cm, 1952 ❚ Swirl of Wind,
oil on canvas, 30 x 24 cm, 1952
Nokturno v predmestju, mešana tehnika, 100 x 80 cm, 1970
❚ Nocturne in Suburbs, 100 x 80 cm, 1970

Pozabljene žrtve, mešana tehnika, 70 x 85 cm, 1972
❚ Forgotten Victims, mixed media, 70 x 85 cm, 1972

34 Lojze Spacal

Istrske fantazije, mešana tehnika, 80 x 100 cm, 1961 ❚ Istrian Fantasies, mixed media, 80 x 100 cm, 1961

35Slike in kipi

Viseči čolni v Savudriji, dekorativni pano za Gledališče Tartini v Piranu, 150 x 330 cm, 1960
❚ Suspended Boats in Savudrija, decorative panel for Tartini Theatre in Piran, 150 x 330 cm, 1960

36 Lojze Spacal

Viseči čolni v Savudriji, mešana tehnika, 82 x 111 cm, 1966 ❚ Suspended Boats in Savudrija, mixed media, 82 x 111 cm, 1966

37Slike in kipi

Požar na istrski gmajni, mešana tehnika, 59,5 x 72 cm, 1963 ❚ Fire on the Istrian Heath, mixed media, 59,5 x 72 cm, 1963

38 Lojze Spacal

Kraška kaluna, mešana tehnika, 60 x 85 cm, 1966 ❚ Karst Portal, mixed media, 60 x 85 cm, 1966

39Slike in kipi

Mesto v zrcalu, olje na platnu, 69 x 132 cm, 1965 ❚ Town in the Mirror, oil on canvas, 69 x 132 cm, 1965

40 Lojze Spacal

Mesto v zatonu, mešana tehnika, 80 x 119,5 cm, 1968 ❚ Town in the Sunset, mixed media,
80 x 119,5 cm, 1968
Mesto v zrcalu, mešana tehnika, 36 x 52 cm, 1990 ❚ Town in the Mirror, mixed media,
36 x 52 cm, 1990

41Slike in kipi

Istrski nokturno, mešana tehnika, 41 x 82 cm, 1963 ❚ Istrian Nocturne, mixed media, 41 x 82 cm, 1963

Viseči čolni v Savudriji, mešana tehnika, 60 x 85 cm, 1970 ❚ Suspended Boats in
Savudrija, mixed media, 60 x 85 cm, 1970

42 Lojze Spacal

Bidonville ponoči, mešana tehnika, 61 x 175 cm, 1970 ❚ Bidonville at Night, mixed media, 61 x 175 cm, 1970

43Slike in kipi

Belo mesto, mešana tehnika, 60 x 85 cm, 1982 ❚ White City, mixed media, 60 x 85 cm, 1982

Gorska partitura, mešana tehnika, 48 x 58,5 cm, 1989 ❚ Mountain Score,
mixed media, 48 x 58,5 cm, 1989

44 Lojze Spacal

Brez naslova, mešana tehnika, 35 x 35 cm, 1987
❚ Untitled, mixed media, 35 x 35 cm, 1987
Kraška polja, mešana tehnika, 60 x 80 cm, 1980 ❚ Karst Fields,
mixed media, 60 x 80 cm, 1980

45Slike in kipi

Brez naslova, mešana tehnika,
52 x 36 cm, 1977 ❚ Untitled, mixed media,

52 x 36 cm, 1977

46 Lojze Spacal

Pesniški prostor, mešana tehnika na platnu, 54 x 77,5 cm, 1977 ❚ Poetical Space, mixed media on canvas,
54 x 77,5 cm, 1977

Zid objokovanja, mešana tehnika, 85 x 60 cm, 1981 ❚ Wall of Mourning,
mixed media, 85 x 60 cm, 1981

Rdeča točka, mešana tehnika, 80 x 50 cm, 1975 ❚ Red Point, mixed media,
80 x 50 cm, 1975

47Slike in kipi

Brez naslova, mešana tehnika, 23 x 31,5 cm, 1998
❚ Untitled, mixed media, 23 x 31,5 cm, 1998

Poslednja dolina, mešana tehnika, 60 x 85 cm, 1988 ❚ Last Valley, mixed media, 60 x 85 cm, 1988

48 Lojze Spacal