Arturo de Ascanio

Arturo de Ascanio (1929 6 April 1997) is

considered the father of Spanish card
magic, referred to by Milbourne
Christopher as "the Dai Vernon of Spain".

Maestro Ascanio (as he was called by

contemporary magician Juan Tamariz)
was born Arturo de Ascanio y Navaz in the
Canary Islands. He is famous for adding
many theories, techniques and tricks to
the breadth of card magic. He died in
Madrid.

Theories of Magic
Ascanio placed great importance on the
idea of naturalness, nonchalance, and
slowness of action. He believed that any
hurried, or unnatural looking actions
would destroy the magical atmosphere.

Techniques
Ascanio is most famous for a technique
called the "Ascanio Spread" (this name
was given by Fred Kaps, Ascanio himself
gave the technique the more modest title
of "The Wiggle.") Along with this came
several variations the spread and several
methods of laying cards onto a table from
the spread in such a way as to hide their
true quantity.

Tricks
The tricks Ascanio improved upon are
innumerable, but his signature pieces
include Aces with Love, and Oil and Water
without Manipulation. His original tricks
includeThe Mischievous Lady, and The
Aces of my Exam. Ascanio himself went
through many, many variations of these
tricks before settling on the standard
handlings the magic community has
today.

References
Ascanio: A Biographical Interview by
Docampo published in Ilusionismo #178,
1959
The Magic of Ascanio: The Structural
Conception of Magic by Ascanio and
Etcheverry
The Magic of Ascanio: Studies of Card
Magic by Etcheverry

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