Cathy Josefowitz’s ‘Untitled’ (c. 1974) is a seminal example of the artist’s early paintings, in which the motif of performance and dance takes center stage. Josefowitz’s fascination with performance stemmed from her study of stage design at the Théâtre National de Strasbourg in 1972 and a strong sense of theatrical narration is visible in the composition of this painting. While studying at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1973, Josefowitz created large figurative paintings on cardboard influenced by 20th Century artistic movements such as Fauvism, Expressionism, and Der Blaue Reiter. Her paintings from this period are richly populated by musicians, acrobats, circus performers, Pierrots, lovers, and dancers. With the expressionistic language of the figures, ‘Untitled’ recalls one of André Derain’s dancers and the bold, non-naturalistic colors of Henri Matisse. The themes explored during these formative years mark the beginning of Josefowitz’s lifelong attempt to dismantle the conventional hierarchy that separated performance and painting, and to reconcile these two mediums in a unified practice.