Erotic encounters have been celebrated by artists from the beginning of time. Their insatiable fascination with the subject is celebrated in this irresistible volume, in which 120 of the most engagingly erotic paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings from diverse eras and cultures are coupled with revealing commentaries about their sexual and aesthetic content.Organized unlike any other collection of erotic images, The Art of Arousal traces the course of a sensual relationship. It begins with the elements of eroticism, then progresses from flirtation and seduction through kisses and other foreplay before ultimately arriving at consummation and blissful exhaustion. The irrepressible Dr. Ruth explores every element of sexuality in these provocative works of art, including the pleasures of looking, creative fantasizing, and the effects on male and female pleasure of the various positions depicted.All the works in this book have been chosen to meet two essential criteria: everyone portrayed must be having a good time, and each image must satisfy the high aesthetic standards of Dr. Ruth and an art historian-friend, who writes with witty scholarship about the artistic and biographical aspects of these remarkable images. Arousal and erudition intertwine to make this a uniquely pleasurable volume to look at and to read. It's a book with something for everyone. Read Less