Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 30, 2013 Page: 2 of 28
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Page 2
Jewish Herald-Voice
May 30, 2013
Up Close
A sexy night at the museum with Dr. Ruth
By AARON HOWARD
Although she’s best known for
dispensing sex advice on radio and
television - in a German accent -
therapist and media personality
“Dr. Ruth” Westheimer has led an
amazing life. For example, her
German Jewish mother sent her to
safety to a Swiss orphanage after the
Nazis incarcerated her father in 1939.
After the war, she immigrated to the
British mandate of Palestine, where
she became a sniper in the Haganah.
Westheimer studied at the
Sorbonne and taught psychology
at the University of Paris. She first
became a media sensation as the
host of an NBC radio show, “Sexually
Speaking,” which originally aired
at midnight. She went “viral” after
several appearances dispensing
candid advice on “Late Night With
David Letterman.” And, she wrote
a book - one of 31 or 32 published
volumes - with Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston director Gary Tinterow.
It’s that book, “The Art of Arousal,”
first published in 1993, which
will bring Dr. Ruth to the MFAH
on June 4 at 6:30 p.m. Westheimer
and Tinterow will present in the
second of a new series,
“Conversations With
the Director,” which
will bring an eclectic
mix of cultural figures
to the museum’s Brown
Auditorium three times
a year. The conversation
will cover the subject of
erotic paintings and art
throughout history and
in diverse cultures. The
series is presented by
Louis Vuitton.
The original edition of the
book featured more than 100 color
reproductions of works by Georgia
O’Keeffe, Titian, Watteau, Durer,
Manet, Courbet, Egon Schiele, David
Hockney and others. The scope was
multicultural, embracing Persian
miniatures, a Cambodian sandstone
female torso, and a Dogon primordial
couple from West Africa and Hopi
carver Fred Koruh’s interlocking
male and female kachina dolls.
Chapters proceed methodically
from Elements of Eroticism, The
Pleasures of Looking, Flirtation and
Seduction, Kisses and other Foreplay,
The Embrace, Solitary and Group
Pleasures, to Blissful Exhaustion.
As reviews from
that time note, clearly
the art historian who
had selected the art,
and provided historical
and biographical infor-
mation, knew his stuff.
“The problem,” as one
newspaper review
noted, “is the difficulty
of trying to find out
the identity of Dr.
Ruth’s co-author, who
is responsible for the
art history throughout the book.
‘He’ is described as ‘a serious art
historian’ and ‘a very good friend,’
but is otherwise nameless - unless
identical with the Andrew Shelton
thanked for his research in the
acknowledgments. Whoever her
partner was, he deserves credit as
co-author.”
Mystery solved. The co-author
was Tinterow.
“Gary used to work at the Met in
New York,” said Dr. Ruth. (Tinterow
was the Engelhard chairman of the
Department of Nineteenth-Century,
Modern and Contemporary Art at
New York’s Metropolitan Museum of
Art.) “He and I did this book together,
while he was working there. I could
have never done the book without
him. He did the art history, and I did
a commentary like Rashi.
“I remember we did a lecture and
book signing together in the Louvre
when the French edition came out
in 1994. I lived in Paris from 1951-
’56, when I was director of a Jewish
kindergarten and was studying at the
Sorbonne. I was a poor student. I had
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
no money, although the museums
were free back then. I remember
going to the cheapest row at the
Comedie Francaise.”
For his part, Tinterow responded,
“Ruth is being typically generous in
giving me more credit than I deserve.
She asked me to help on the book,
and I was happy to provide the art-
historical context. But, Abbeville
press and the team there selected her
images. If you read the book you see
that it is very much her voice and her
book.”
Clearly their friendship is close
enough to lure Dr. Ruth here.
“When Gary said he wanted me
[for the “Conversations With the
Director” series], I said yes right
away. I’m going to be 85 on June
4, and my daughter had already
conspired to do a surprise party for
me. I told my public relations person
that if I can get a gig at 85 in Houston,
I’m going for it. So, I’m celebrating
my birthday in Houston.
“What we’ll do is a wonderful talk
with slides about all good things in
the book, from arousal to sexual
satisfaction - nothing that is not
pleasurable. We had a wonderful
time putting the book together, and
there isn’t a picture in the book that I
don’t comment on.
“I’ve written 31 or 32 books. What
is common to all of them is the need
for sexual literacy, for couples to
know how to satisfy each other and
the importance of relationships.
“Whomever comes to the lecture,
I promise them good sex for the rest
of their lives!”
* * *
Tickets may be ordered at mfah.
org or by calling 713-639-7771. □
May you so from strength to strength!
Jewish Family Service Light
fl Hope
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Since 1913
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE
On behalf of the entire community,
todah rabah, thank you very much for
100 Years of Leadership and Loving kind ness
from the
oice
See special section honoring JFS
on its centennial
Pages 11-18
Classical Music's
Rising Stars from
Top Music
Conservatories
from Around
the World
IMMANUEL & HELEN 0LSHAN
TEXASfMUSIC FESTIVAE
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON, MOORES SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Mark Anthony Turnage: Fractured Lines
(concerto for double percussion and orchestra)
Tchaikovsky: Excerpts from
The Sleeping Beauty
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (complete)
Franz Anton Krager, conductor
Ted Atkatz - percussion
Matthew Strauss - percussion
Saturday,
June 8
7:30 p.m.
Moores
Opera House
Pre-concert celebration on the plaza featuring Virtuosi of Houston
Tickets$15/FreeParking 7137433313/www.tmf.uh.edu
Commission SH Aleth(dtSt
The Methodist
Hospital System" HOUSTON
UH is an AA/EO institution
y4DL. Becoming an Ally Workshops Help Students Counteract Bullying
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Anti-Defamation League 713.627.3490 southwest@adl.org www.adl.org/southwest L 3 World W tllOUt H3tG™
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Samuels, Jeanne F. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 106, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 30, 2013, newspaper, May 30, 2013; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth544137/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .