Painter and graphic artist Lojze Spacal was born on June 15, 1907, in Trieste. His father, a stonemason and bricklayer, died when Spacal was only four years old. Consequently, he had to contribute to the family’s livelihood from an early age, helping his mother, who worked as a washerwoman, to improve their quality of life. By the age of eleven, he was supporting himself while completing his education at the Slovenian Cyril and Methodius primary and middle schools. In 1929, due to his involvement in the anti-fascist movement and his strong national awareness, he was arrested and exiled to southern Italy for three years. During this time, he began his artistic journey. At the same time, he prepared for his high school diploma, which he obtained after his release from a private art school in Venice.

In 1934, he graduated as a drawing teacher in Rome and started teaching in vocational schools in Trieste the following year. He enrolled at the Higher Art School in Monza and privately studied at the Brera Academy in Milan. During World War II, he was imprisoned again and sent to the Corropoli camp, later being transferred to a labor battalion in Forte dei Marmi. After the war, he settled in Trieste, restored an old house in Piran, and ethnographically renovated a house in Škrbina in the Karst region as a tribute to the Karst land. Spacal’s public artistic career began in 1937 with a group exhibition in Trieste, followed by his first solo exhibition three years later.

A solo exhibition in Milan’s Il Milione gallery gained significant attention from Italian critics, while Slovenians became familiar with his work through Fran Šijanec’s writings in the magazine Art. In addition to numerous exhibitions in Trieste and Ljubljana, Spacal participated in various group exhibitions in Italy, former Yugoslavia, and internationally. He also took part in major graphic biennials and held solo exhibitions worldwide. His presentations at the Venice Biennale in 1948, 1954, and 1958 established him as a leading figure in Italian graphic art. By the 1960s, the numerous awards and recognitions he received placed him among the world’s most prominent representatives of modern graphic art. He passed away on May 6, 2000, in Nabrežina.