For: Illusionism (art)

Magic is a performing art that entertains an audience by creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats, using purely natural means. These feats are called magic tricks, effects or illusions.

One who performs such illusions is called a magician. Some performers may also be referred to by names reflecting the type of magical effects they present, such as prestidigitators, conjurors, illusionists, mentalists, escape artists, and ventriloquists.

History

In 1584, Reginald Scot published The Discoverie of Witchcraft. It was written to show that witches did not exist, by exposing how (apparently miraculous) feats of magic were done. The book is often deemed the first textbook about conjuring. All obtainable copies were burned on the accession of James I in 1603 and those remaining are now rare. It began to reappear, in print, in 1651.

From 1756 to 1781, Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the guise of scientific exhibitions, throughout Europe and in Russia. Modern entertainment magic owes much of its origins to Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871), originally a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in the 1840s. His speciality was the construction of mechanical automata which appeared to move and act as if they were alive. The British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cooke established their own theatre, the Egyptian Hall in London's Piccadilly, in 1873. They presented stage magic, exploiting the potential of the stage for hidden mechanisms and assistants, and the control it offers over the audience's point of view.

When one thinks of the typical magician, he usually thinks of a man with wavy hair, a goatee, and wearing a tailcoat. The model for this prototype was Alexander Herrmann (February 10, 1844 – December 17, 1896) better known as Herrmann the Great. Herrmann was a French magician and was part of the Herrmann family name that is known as the "first-family of magic". Those that witnessed Herrmann the Great perform considered him the greatest magician they ever saw.

The escapologist and magician Harry Houdini (real name Ehrich Weiss, 1874 - 1926), took his stage name from Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based on escapology (though that word was not used until after Houdini's death). The son of a Hungarian rabbi, Houdini was genuinely highly skilled in techniques such as lockpicking and escaping straitjackets, but also made full use of the whole range of conjuring techniques, including fake equipment and collusion with individuals in the audience. Houdini's showbusiness savvy was as great as his performing skill. There is a Houdini Museum dedicated to him in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In addition to expanding the range of magic hardware, showmanship and deceptive technique, these performers established the modern relationship between the performer and the audience.