Not on display

Prince Yuga, the Illusionist Manek Shah

Oil Painting
ca. 1940 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Prince Yuga was the stage name of Manek Shah, an illusionist or magician who specialised in an act which he made appear more mystical in the USA and Britain by dressing in his native Indian clothes and using an exotic stage name. He was one of many variety performers whose acts were popular on tour in the 1920s and 1930s but about whom little is remembered today.

Born in Bombay in the late 19th century, Manek Shah studied medicine and qualified in India as a doctor. He went to the United States where he was naturalised as an American citizen in California in 1906, and despite his medical training, worked as a stage illusionist. He appeared professionally in vaudeville in the United States and in variety in England in the 1920s and 1930s with two assistants, including his daughter Retta Shah. He adopted various billings including 'Yuga, Mystical Entertainer Extraordinary; 'Yuga & Co.', 'Prince Yuga & Co.' and 'Prince Yuga and his Company of Oriental Mystic Entertainers.' He made his Asian appearance his trade-mark and specialised in illusions including the Indian rope trick, passing a cord through his neck, producing birds from empty vessels, and making an assistant disappear from a crate.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePrince Yuga, the Illusionist Manek Shah
Materials and techniques
Oil on paper on a canvas backing
Brief description
Oil painting, portrait of Prince Yuga, the illusionist Manek Shah (fl.1920s,1930s)
Physical description
Oil painting on canvas in wooden frame of the illusionist Manek Shah in his stage costume of Asian-style robe and turban.
Dimensions
  • Height: 50.6cm
  • Width: 40.4cm
Credit line
Bequeathed by Retta Read
Subject depicted
Associations
Summary
Prince Yuga was the stage name of Manek Shah, an illusionist or magician who specialised in an act which he made appear more mystical in the USA and Britain by dressing in his native Indian clothes and using an exotic stage name. He was one of many variety performers whose acts were popular on tour in the 1920s and 1930s but about whom little is remembered today.

Born in Bombay in the late 19th century, Manek Shah studied medicine and qualified in India as a doctor. He went to the United States where he was naturalised as an American citizen in California in 1906, and despite his medical training, worked as a stage illusionist. He appeared professionally in vaudeville in the United States and in variety in England in the 1920s and 1930s with two assistants, including his daughter Retta Shah. He adopted various billings including 'Yuga, Mystical Entertainer Extraordinary; 'Yuga & Co.', 'Prince Yuga & Co.' and 'Prince Yuga and his Company of Oriental Mystic Entertainers.' He made his Asian appearance his trade-mark and specialised in illusions including the Indian rope trick, passing a cord through his neck, producing birds from empty vessels, and making an assistant disappear from a crate.
Collection
Accession number
S.2-2005

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Record createdJanuary 18, 2005
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