4 The Minoan woman as the Oriental woman: Mariano Fortuny’s Knossos scarves and Ruth St. Denis

In agreement with Christine Morris, who has recently suggested that ‘the Minoans could be represented both as European and Oriental, depending on time and context’ as well as ‘thoroughly modern’, 3 I argue in this chapter that in the context of Ruth St. Denis’s performances, Fortuny’s Minoans, and especially his Minoan woman, were clearly posited as Oriental.