Harry Houdini: Will Wonders Never Cease?

Houdini: Art and Magic, exhibition opens on Friday

Harry Houdini left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten, and so once again, the legendary magician and his work will be remembered as they will make the object of an art museum exhibition, named “Houdini: Art and Magic.”

The exhibition opens on Friday according to the Associated Press and it will last until March 27, 2011, when it will move to Los Angeles, San Francisco and then Madison, Wisconsin. However, Houdini’s legendary ways to escape from handcuffs, straitjackets or watery tombs, will now be remembered at The Jewish Museum, in New York. Houdini was one of the most famous performers of the 20th century and his shows shocked and impressed during the years and they still do. He started as a stage magician and then he turned to outdoor impressive escape shows.

The Jewish Museum will display starting with Friday some of the magic props used by Houdini, including handcuffs, chains, shackles, a straitjacket, a milk can and a packing trunk, that were used by the famous magician in his escape acts. Works by popular artists such as Matthew Barney, Vik Muniz and Raymond Pettibon and other well known names will be included in the exhibition dedicated to Harry Houdini. And all these elements show the influence that Houdini still has years after his death, becoming and remaining an international celebrity.

Harry Houdini, whose real name was Erik Weisz, was born in Budapest in 1874. His father immigrated to Wisconsin when Erik was just a boy. His love for magic began in his childhood and in fact, Harry Houdini or Erik at that time, ran from home at the age of 12 to join the circus. However, he returned to his family to help them and worked as an apprentice to a locksmith. But, what he did in his childhood and helped him in his career as a magician was the fact that he trained as runner, swimmer and boxer for years. This way he developed the physical strength and the ability to resist his famous shows. And he managed to take his work to its extreme as he performed what people used to call superhuman escapes, while being handcuffed. And Houdini’s performances became even more memorable as the artist used to end his shows with the question: “Will wonders never cease?”

Harry Houdini in one of his famous escapes

Well, Erik Weisz launched his career while still being a teenager. And he did so only after his father death. He changed his name in the honor of the French magician Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin and under the stage name of Harry Houdini he achieved fame worldwide. He first started performing in different shows and also in traveling circus, but his big break came in 1899 when he was discovered by Martin Beck who helped him set his own shows and so the artist started having his own tours across America and Europe.

Harry Houdini published some books in which he talks about some of the secrets of his famous escapes, but however, they don’t make a subject of this new exhibition in the honor of the artist. However, “Houdini: Art and Magic” will be open starting with Friday. Houdini died on Halloween, on November 4 1926 in New York, suffering from peritonitis, although the general opinion people share today is that his death was more dramatic, and occurred when trying to escape from a water-filled cell, impression created by the 1953 movie about his life, in which Houdini’s death is presented that way. However, regarding his death there are different opinions, and some rumors said that his death was actually caused by J. Gordon Whitehead, a student who punched Houdini in the abdomen to test the artist’s claim that he can take any blow above the waist without injury. He was 52 years old at the time of his death.