Early on he performed card tricks and the Needle Threading Trick in which needles and thread are swallowed and then pulled from the mouth in a long threaded chain. He changed his name to Harry Houdini as a tribute to the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. Weiss’ career as a professional magician began after his father’s death in 1892. These early workouts paved the way for Houdini’s rigorous training routine as a magician and illusionist. Passionate about athletics-he trained as a runner, swimmer, and boxer. Instead, he spent his teenage years doing odd jobs to help support his impoverished family, now living in New York City. When he was 12, he ran away from home with the intention of joining the circus. From the beginning, Weiss was drawn to illusion, performance, and spectacle. Houdini was the son of a rabbi who immigrated with his family to Appleton, Wisconsin four years after his birth. Harry Houdini (1874–1926) was born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary.

The objects and art works featured in Houdini: Art and Magic are drawn from many private and public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art the Museum of the City of New York the Library of Congress the Harvard Theatre Collection The New York Public Library The History Museum at the Castle, Appleton, Wisconsin The National Portrait Gallery the Whitney Museum of American Art the Harry Ransom Humanities Center, University of Texas at Austin and Tate, London. The exhibition also features the work of 26 contemporary artists who have been inspired by his physical audacity and celebrity, his props and illusionist effects, and the themes of metamorphosis and escape. Artists include Matthew Barney, Whitney Bedford, Joe Coleman, Petah Coyne, Bruce Cratsley, Jane Hammond, Tim Lee, Vik Muniz, Ikuo Nakamura, Deborah Oropallo, Raymond Pettibon, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Allen Ruppersberg, Christopher Wool, and Carol Yeh. Houdini: Art and Magic includes more than 160 objects including magic apparatus, a recreation of the famous Water Torture Cell, historic photographs, dramatic art nouveau-era posters, theater ephemera, and archival and silent films that allow visitors to fully explore the career and legacy of the celebrated entertainer.

The magic of houdini