✦ Golden Grolla Award 2012

René Lavand

The poet of one-handed card magic

René Lavand (1928-2015) lost his right hand in a car accident when he was nine years old. Any other child might have given up the dream of card magic; the boy from Argentina instead spent his life proving that a single hand was enough to reach a level of beauty that two hands never had. He called his art "lentidigitación", slow sleight of hand: instead of hiding the moves in speed, he slowed everything down, defying the audience to see what could not be seen.

Seated at his card table, with a voice made for storytelling, Lavand accompanied every routine with tales of gauchos, tango and destiny, turning card tricks into small pieces of literature. His signature phrase, "no se puede hacer más lento", it cannot be done any slower, became one of the most famous lines in magic. Theatres and television shows around the world, from Buenos Aires to Europe and the United States, fell silent in front of his table.

Masters of Magic honoured him with the Golden Grolla in 2012, celebrating the artist who transformed a childhood tragedy into one of the purest expressions of elegance the art has ever known.

Honoured by Masters of Magic among the legends who have shaped the history of magic.