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| The Mario Carrandi Collection brings us closer into the world of 18th and 19th century magical entertainment. The art of conjuring entered the stream of popular subject matter in paintings and prints as everyday subject matter rose to acceptance. Manipulating benign secular objects of daily life proved to be a sensational visual display that appealed to such artists as Hogarth and Daumier. These artists found witty social and political satire in street performances of sleight of hand. The conjurors of street corner magic could remind the public that reality could be subject to change without notice. The art of conjuring, however, moved from the street corner onto to the stage by 1875. When magic grew into a great theatrical stage art, the print medium succeeded to an emphasis on branding an image as magic grew commercially. The heyday of fine stone lithography, coinciding with the golden age of theatrical advertising endured fifty years, until 1925. The Carrandi collection of colorful vintage posters presented here are from this golden age of flamboyant magicians. The rare turn of the century poster of Houdini, represented naked on the street, marks this transition from naturalism to sensationalism.
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