- Jurgis Baltrušaitis
Jurgis Baltrušaitis (
May 2 ,1873 –January 3 ,1944 ) was aLithuania n Symbolist poet and translator, who wrote his works in Lithuanian and Russian. In addition to his important contributions toLithuanian literature , he was noted as a political activist and diplomat. Himself one of the foremost exponents oficonology , he was the father of art historian and critic Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr..Writer
Baltrušaitis was born to a family of farmers in Paantvardys village near
Jurbarkas , which was then under Imperial Russian rule. In 1885, he enteredKaunas gymnasium, and graduated in 1893; he then entered the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences atMoscow University . At the same time, he attended lectures in the Faculty of History and Philology, and studied foreign languages; Baltrušaitis learned 15 foreign languages during his life.From 1895 onwards, Baltrušaitis began to take part in editing
Moscow -based literary magazines, and he began his own his creative work in Russian. He joined the Symbolist movement, and, in association withSergei Polyakov , set up the publishing house "Scorpio", which published the chief Russian Symbolist magazines such as "Vesy " and "Severnyie Tzvety " as well as collections of the greatest Russian Symbolist poets. A member of the city's cultural elite, Baltrušaitis was a close friend and colleague of such famous Russian writers and artists asAnton Chekhov ,Konstantin Bal'mont ,Valery Bryusov , Vyacheslav Ivanov,Maksim Gorky ,Konstantin Stanislavsky ,Mikhail Vrubel , andNikolai Skryabin ;Boris Pasternak was the private home tutor of Baltrušaitis's children.Baltrušaitis published three collections of poetry in Russian, and another three in Lithuanian. He authored many Russian translations of
modern literature , including ones fromHenrik Ibsen ,Oscar Wilde ,August Strindberg ,Knut Hamsun , andGabriele D'Annunzio . His translation of "Hunger" by Hamsun is considered a classical rendering of this work into Russian, and has been continuously republished right up to contemporary times.Politician
Between 1900 and 1914, Baltrušaitis often visited and lived in countries of
Western Europe , most of allItaly andNorway . He spent the years ofWorld War I and the Russian Revolution in Russia, where he actively participated in the Lithuanian political struggle for independence. In 1919 he was elected President of theRussian Union of Writers , and is known for his efforts to help and rescue many writers and intellectuals during the first years of the Bolshevik regime.cite web |url=http://www.academic.marist.edu/nork/jurgis.htm |title= Jurgis Baltrusaitis as rescuer of Russian poets and artists from Bolshevik persecution |author=Kazys Norkeliunas |publisher= A historical essay |date=1996 ]Baltrušaitis was appointed ambassador independent Lithuania's ambassador to Russia in 1920, and he held this position until 1939. In 1932 he was honored with the award of a doctorate
honoris causa byVytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. Baltrušaitis was appointed a counselor of the Lithuanian embassy in Paris in 1939. His son, Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr., an art and art critic, was also a Lithuanian diplomat during the Soviet annexation of Lithuania, when the Lithuanian diplomatic service continued to represent Lithuanian interests in some Western countries. Baltrušaitis died in Paris in January 1944; he is buried atMontrouge cemetery.External links
* [http://www.efn.org/~valdas/baltrusaitis.html Translated poetry of Jurgis Baltrušaitis]
* [http://www.ldm.lt/VPG/Baltrusaitis_en.htm Exhibition of Jurgis Baltrusaitis' furniture at the Lithuanian Art Museum; includes biography]References
::In-line:::General:
* [http://www.academic.marist.edu/nork/archive.htm Casimir Norkeliunas: the archival site of the works and scholarship, dedicated to Jurgis Kazimieras Baltrušaitis]
*cite journal|title=Book reviews|journal=Lituanus |date=1974|first=Bronius|last=Vaškelis|coauthors=|volume=20|issue=1|pages=|id= |url=http://www.lituanus.org/1974/74_1_10.htm|format=|accessdate=2007-09-07
*cite journal|title=Jurgis Baltrušaitis, A Lithuanian and Russian Symbolist|journal=Lituanus |date=1974|first=Bronius|last=Vaškelis|coauthors=|volume=20|issue=1|pages=|id= |url=http://www.lituanus.org/1974/74_1_01.htm |format=|accessdate=2007-09-07
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