Art of magic in Great Britain between 1860s and 1910s. Artistic expression of the impossible
- The research focuses on magic - the practice of performing tricks and illusions on stage aiming at entertaining the audience. In the late XIX-early XX century magic achieved an outstanding social recognition and became an important artistic phenomenon. This study aims to analyze the work of the most prominent magicians of the late XIX-early XX centuries and to define the historical role of magicians in the history of culture and art. Using methods of art history and cultural studies, I analyze the autobiographies of magicians, the literature on magic published during the period in question, and contemporary press. I approach the history of magic from three different perspectives: magic as a branch of show business, magic as a cultural phenomenon, and magic as a type of performing art. It allowed me to create a detailed account of magic as a social, cultural and artistic phenomenon. I argue that magic became a highly influential cultural phenomenon of the late 19th- early 20th centuries in Great Britain that represented the idea of real magic on stage. Magic shows reflected a complex relationship between rational and magical thinking that existed in society and produced narratives about science and the supernatural. Moreover, very few studies have focused on the question of defining magic as an art form. In the thesis, I analyzed the theoretical works on magic written by magicians and developed a framework for further research on magic from the perspective of the history of art.
Author: | Alexey Pivovarov |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-503083 |
Place of publication: | Frankfurt am Main |
Referee: | Viola Hildebrand-SchatGND, Ulrich Schneider, Joseph Imorde |
Advisor: | Viola Hildebrand-Schat |
Document Type: | Doctoral Thesis |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2019/05/20 |
Year of first Publication: | 2019 |
Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
Granting Institution: | Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität |
Date of final exam: | 2019/04/29 |
Release Date: | 2019/05/27 |
Tag: | magic; performing arts; stage magic; theatre magic; victorian magic |
Page Number: | 144 |
HeBIS-PPN: | 449042065 |
Institutes: | Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 3 Sozialwissenschaften / 30 Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie / 300 Sozialwissenschaften |
Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
Licence (German): | ![]() |