Rene Lavand

Héctor René Lavandera (Buenos Aires, September 24, 1928-Tandil, February 7, 2015), better known as René Lavand, was an Argentine illusionist world famous specialized in card magic. He lived in Tandil from the age of 14 until his death.

Biography

The only child of Antonio Lavandera (traveler and shoemaker) and Sara Fernández (teacher), they lived in the city of Buenos Aires. In 1935, when René was seven years old, his aunt Juana took him to a show and he was amazed by the performance of a magician named "Chang". A family friend taught him a card game. Eventually, his father's shoe store went bankrupt and the family moved to the city of Coronel Suárez.

In February 1937, during the carnival, when he was crossing a street near his house with his friends, a seventeen-year-old boy who was driving his father's car ran over him and crushed his right arm (he was right-handed). He saved part of his arm, leaving a four-inch stump from the elbow.

At the age of 14, he moved to the city of Tandil.

He performed his illusions with the only help of his left hand. Far from letting himself be defeated by the circumstance of his accident, he practiced card magic obsessively from his childhood until he reached complete mastery of the deck. For this he had to follow a self-taught path, because "all the books and techniques are for two-handed magicians".

However, the attraction of Lavand's shows did not lie exclusively in the amazing way in which he had overcome his disability, but also in the stories (written mostly by his friends Rolando Chirico and Ricardo Martín) with which he dressed his illusions, and in his expressive handling of pause and silence as dramatic resources.

After working as a banker until he was thirty-two years old, in 1961 —after winning a magical competition in the specialty called manipulation— he launched himself as a professional acting on Argentine television and theaters (Nacional and Tabaris). Since 1983 he traveled and was recognized in the United States, Europe and Japan, where he performed private shows and lectures for his colleagues.

His most famous game is his version of a card magic classic called "Water and Oil"; In it he used one of the phrases that define his art: & # 34; You can't slow down & # 34; . It was he who coined the word & # 34; lentidigitation & # 34;, which, as opposed to sleight of hand, defines the illusion executed slowly in order to bring impossibility to its maximum expression. Another of his recurring phrases in his television appearances, when facing some medium shot of the camera, was & # 34; The relentless camera doesn't let me lie... & # 34; .

Other key concepts of his art are "adding beauty to wonder," and the search for "the beauty of simplicity". The first was achieved through the stories, poetry and music that he used in his presentations. And the second, taking his movements, gestures and words to the essential, thus achieving greater amazement and enjoyment on the part of the spectators. The illusion in which he achieved the most is —according to his own words— "The three crumbs": in it, three bread crumbs appear over and over again inside a cup of coffee, despite having been clearly thrown off the table.

He had some "disciples," as he preferred to call them, who would visit him at home to learn his art up close; for this he conditioned a train wagon that he used as a magic room. He has also recorded videos and published several technical books for his colleagues. For the general public he wrote his memoir, Shuffling Memories . In them he tells anecdotes of a life dedicated to traveling the world carrying his unique art, together with the transcription of some of the stories he told in his games.

His last public performance was held in Lugo. René Lavand died on February 7, 2015 at the Chacabuco clinic in Tandil, at the age of 86, due to pneumonia.

Television appearances worldwide

• Magia Potagiain Spain (TVE).
• Summer Moonin Spain.
• Chantachan, in Spain.
• Nothing x herein Spain (Cuatro TV).
• IlusionsIn Portugal.
• Ed Sullivan Showin the United States.
• The Tonight Showwith Johnny Carson in the United States.

Film Appearances

In 2002, Lavand played a veteran bar owner and neighborhood villain in the Argentine crime film A Red Bear, directed by Adrián Caetano, and was nominated for the Association's Silver Condor Award. of Film Critics of Argentina for Best Male Revelation.

At the BAFICI festival in 2013, the documentary film El gran simulador , by Néstor Frenkel, which recounts his life, was presented.

Tributes

Lavand appears as a character in the novel Crímenes imperceptibles, by Guillermo Martínez (ed. Planeta, 2003).

On December 15, 2012, the city of Tandil honored him with a statue located in the gardens of the Municipal Palace.

On February 7, 2018, commemorating the third anniversary of his death, the exhibition tribute to René Lavand called Illusion was inaugurated. It was held at the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Tandil (Mumbat) and was extended until February 25, 2018.