This striking portrait of Harry Houdini was taken in 1918, during the height of his fame as the world’s greatest escape artist. Here he stands with his arms crossed, heavy handcuffs binding his wrists, his expression calm but unyielding. Houdini often posed this way to project mastery over restraints that symbolized limits and confinement, daring the public to believe he could not escape—before proving them wrong time and again. By 1918, Houdini had already built an international reputation for