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Peter Loboda was a Slovenian sculptor. He showed talent for carving and sculpture from a young age. He improved his knowledge with Karl Hrovat, and later began attending the secondary technical school in Ljubljana and the studios of Ivan Pengov and Alojzije Repič.

After completing his primary education, he became a fighter for the northern border under General Maister. At the end of the war period, he enrolled at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb. He remained there between 1921 and 1926. Loboda was taught by prominent professors, including Rudolf Valdec, Robert Frangeš-Mihanović and Ivan Meštrović. He completed his specialization in sculpture in 1927 in Meštrović's studio, where he spent two more years deepening his sculptural expression. After returning to his hometown, he set up a studio in a barn and created both larger and smaller sculptures. The most important of these are Girl with a Lotus (1927), Motherhood (1928) and the statue of the blind Domžale musician Kebrov Janko.

During his creative career, Loboda created quite a few portraits and tombstones, including the head of King Peter II, the bust of King Alexander for the monument in Jesenice and the bust of Ivan Cankar, which was sent to Cleveland in 1933. This sculpture was accepted as the property of the city by the Slovenian community in America. In his images, he combined the classical sculptural tradition with the search for a new expression. He was one of the leading sculptors in Slovenia in the thirties. During this time, he moved to Bled, and from there to Homec, where he created, among other things, the statue of Christ the King on the facade of the Domžale parish church.

Between 1939 and 1948, he lived in Zagreb. He joined the partisan movement to help design leaflets and collect medical supplies. After the war, he became an assistant professor at the newly established Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, and also participated in several projects, such as the monument to France Prešeren in Kranj and the statue of the Illegal in Ljubljana. He was buried in Žale. On his grave stands a sculpture symbolizing pain. The art society in Domžale was also named after the artist.

At a retrospective exhibition in 1966, curator Ciril Velepič wrote that Loboda was “an eternal traveler who found his own way, developed a plastic sense and discovered the true values of sculptural art.”

Peter Loboda je bil slovenski kipar, Že v mladih letih je pokazal talent za rezbazrstvo in podobarstvo. Znanje je nadgradil pri Karlu Hrovatu, kasneje pa je pričel obiskovati še srednjo tehnično šolo v Ljubljani in atelje Ivana Pengova ter Alojzija Repiča.

Po končani osnovni izobrazbi je postal borec generala Maistra za severno mejo. Konec bojevitega obdobja se je vpisal na umetniško akademijo v Zagreb. Tam je ostal med 1921 in 1926. Lobodo so poučevali ugledni profesorji, med katerimi so bili Rudolf Valdec, Robert Frangeš-Mihanović in Ivan Meštrović. Specializacijo v kiparski smeri je zaključil leta 1927 v Meštrovićevem ateljeju, kjer je še dve leti poglabljal kiparski izraz. Po vrnitvi v rodni kraj si je uredil atelje v skednju in ustvarjal tako večje kot manjše sculpture. Bolj pomembne izmed teh so Dekle z lotosom (1927), Materinstvo (1928) in kip slepega domžalskega muzikanta Kebrovega Janka.

Loboda je tekom ustvarialne kariere izdelal kar nekaj portretov in nagrobnih spomenikov, med drugim tudi glavo kralja Petra II., doprsje kralja Aleksandra za spomenik na Jesenicah in doprsni kip Ivana Cankarja, ki so ga leta 1933 poslali v Cleveland. To plastiko je slovenska skupnost v Ameriki sprejela v mestno last. V njegovih podobah je združil klasično kiparsko tradicijo z iskanjem novega izraza. Bil je eden izmed vodilnih kiparjev v tridesetih letih na Slovenskem. V tem času se je preselil na Bled, od tod pa še v Homec, kjer je ustvaril med drugim kip Kristusa Kralja na fasadi domžalske župnijske cerkve.

Med letoma 1939 in 1948 je živel v Zagrebu. Vključil se je v partizansko gibanje, da bi pomagal oblikovati letake in da je zbiral sanitetni material. Po vojni je postal docent na novo ustanovljeni Akademiji upodabljajočih umetnosti v Ljubljani, sodeloval pa je tudi pri nekaj projektih, kot je spomenik Francetu Prešernu v Kranju ter kip Ilegalca v Ljubljani. Pokopali so ga na Žalah. Na njegovem grobu stoji skulptura, ki simbolizira bolečino. Po umetniku so poimenovali tudi likovno društvo v Domžalah.

Ob retrospektivni razstavi leta 1966 je kustos Ciril Velepič zapisal, da je Loboda “večni popotnik, ki je sam našel svojo pot, razvijal plastični čut in odkril prave vrednote kiparske umetnosti.”

All the artists on the Porta Alpina website can be found at this link.

The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.

SOURCES/VIRI:
Damir GLOBOČNIK, Slovenska spomeniška afera v Clevelandu, Zgodovina za vse, pp. 32-52.
Roman KOS, Javni spomeniki v Domžalah, ki jih še ni, 23.12.2019, https://www.domzalske-novice.si/2019/12/23/javni-spomeniki-v-domzalah-ki-jih-se-ni/ (17.11.2025).
Tanja SMILJANČIČ, Loboda, Peter (1894-1952), Obrazi Slovenskih pokrajin, 2020, Kranj, https://www.obrazislovenskihpokrajin.si/oseba/loboda-peter/ (1.10.2025).
Uredništvo, Kiparstvo med socialističnim realizmom in konceptualizmom, Pojmovnik Slovenske umetnosti po letu 1945, 2007, pp. 116-122.