Petras Babickas

Petras Babickas ( – 27 August 1991) was a Lithuanian journalist, poet, writer, traveler, filmmaker, diplomat, and photographer who pioneered radio journalism and artistic photography in interwar Lithuania.

Early life Family of Petras Babickas in 1910. Unė Babickaitė, Kazys Babickas, and Vytautas Babickas can also be seen in the photo. Petras Babickas was born on in the village of (present-day Kupiškis district), then belonging to the Kovno Governorate of the Russian Empire. He was the fourth youngest child of Jurgis Babickis and Agota Babickienė née Graičiūnaitė. The family also would raise Kazys Babickas, a lieutenant colonel of the Lithuanian Army, and Unė Babickaitė, an actress. Babickas attended school in Virbališkiai. In 1915, the family moved to St. Petersburg due to the First World War. Babickas's sister noticed his brother's inclination to art, and encouraged him to draw. The family returned to Lithuania in 1918, and settled in Kaunas, the country's temporary capital, in 1919. Unė Babickaitė rented an apartment in Laisvės Alėja, where the family lived. In 1920 Babickas began attending the Juozas Balčikonis Gymnasium, where he participated in the Meno kuopa literary society. From 1921, Babickas actively began participating in Lithuanian (Karys, Lietuvos aidas, Naujoji Romuva, Skautų aidas, Trimitas, Vairas, Žiburėlis, Židinys) and Lithuanian-American magazines. After graduating in 1923, Babickas began studying Lithuanian literature and history at the University of Lithuania. However, due to a lack of funds to continue his education, Babickas became an art and literature teacher at the . Babickas would periodically continue studying until 1930. for which he was awarded the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union Prize.

Photography career After becoming interested in artistic photography, Babickas became its pioneer, preparing an exhibition of three hundred works in Kaunas and establishing the Lithuanian Amateur Photography Society in 1933. One of the most famous interwar photographers of Lithuania, Babickas was one of the first to publish photo reports in the Lithuanian press. He exhibited his photographs in the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in 1937, for which he was awarded a gold medal.

Traveler Babickas created watercolor paintings, pencil and ink drawings, as well as illustrated travel books. Babickas, a polyglot of eight languages, As the Soviet front was getting closer, to avoid repressions from the Soviet authorities, in 1944, with the assistance of Tadas Ivanauskas, Babickas moved to Germany, crossing the Nemunas River near Jurbarkas.

Death Towards the end of his life, Babickas lived in impoverished conditions. Refusing Brazilian citizenship, he consequently did not receive a pension. For a long time, the writer was supported by émigré aid organizations, relatives, friends, and other Lithuanian emigrants.