In the visual arts, a brush with Paris

In the comic western film My Little Chickadee, W.C. Fields inadvertently created the perfect leitmotif for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA).

About to be mistakenly hanged as a condemned bandit, Fields is asked if he has a last wish.

"Yes, I'd like to see Paris before I die." (As noose tightens) "Philadelphia will do."

Fields' memorable riposte nestles at the conceptual core of this three-week festival-cum-carnival of music, theater, performance, film and video, fashion and food, and various outdoor activities.

Visual art has a subordinate role. Mainly, this aspect of the festival is about Philadelphia dressing up as Paris, something the city does from time to time to emphasize a French inflection in some of its architecture and the work of some of its artists.

(One wonders whether, in a parallel, antimatter universe, Paris ever dresses up as Philadelphia - cheesesteaks on the Champs, Thomas Eakins at the Musée d'Orsay, Arthur Carles at the Musée National d'Art Moderne. Probably not.)

Anyway, the city's major art institutions have dutifully bought in to this extravaganza to varying degrees, and to the extent that they can devise Paris connections. Some exhibitions might not seem inherently "international," whatever that is supposed to mean, but that doesn't deprive them of interest.

Ironically, the two genuinely international shows on view at the moment aren't officially part of PIFA. One, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, presents the stunningly sculptural fashion inventions of Italian designer Roberto Capucci (through June 5).

The other, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, through Aug. 7, is a career retrospective for American fiber artist Sheila Hicks.

Both are internationally renowned, Capucci for being an influential and imaginative artist-couturier for more than a half-century, and Hicks for being instrumental in redefining the nature of fiber art over the same period.

Hicks was born in Nebraska and educated at Yale, but she has lived in Paris since 1964, which makes her a quintessential international artist. PIFA, take note.

The Art Museum's official festival entry is "Paris Through the Window" (through July 10), an examination of how Marc Chagall and other immigrants to Paris, many of them Jewish, helped to shape the development of modern art.

The ICA is on the PIFA schedule for a one-day event (April 23) that celebrates goings-on at the famous studio building in Montmartre called Le Bateau Lavoir, where Picasso lived for a time. The event promises "performances, poetry projections, conversation, music, meals and libations," but apparently no art. It begins at 11 a.m. and continues to 8 p.m.

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has prepared a one-gallery installation of art from the 1910s and '20s that illuminates the influence of Parisian modernism on American art. It's called (deep breath) "How 'Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm After They've Seen Paree?" Through May 29.

In a similar vein, Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill will offer "Charles Demuth in the City of Lights," which examines how trips to Paris influenced Lancaster native Charles H. Demuth, an important American modernist.

Further exploiting the theme of modern artists working in Paris, La Salle University Art Museum has organized a show of prints made there from 1894 to 1939. Thursday to July 8.

Drexel University's contribution, in the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, is an exhibition called "Brave New World; Fashion and Freedom, 1911-1919," a period during which designers introduced short skirts, bold colors, and a slim, uncorseted body. Thursday to May 7.

Possibly the most intriguing gallery show is "The Insolent Eye" at Locks Gallery, a tribute to French writer Alfred Jarry through the art of Thomas Chimes, Rebecca Horn, and William Kentridge. Through May 13.

More than 50 galleries throughout the city will open their doors on Gallery Night, April 15; it's essentially First Friday in the middle of the month.

Two other multiple-venue programs deserve mention.

The experiences of African American artists such as Henry Ossawa Tanner, who went to Europe, primarily France, to escape discrimination, will be explored in presentations at the African American Museum in Philadelphia (Friday to Sept. 4), Biddle Hall at Cheyney University (Thursday to May 1) and the Charles L. Blockson Collection at Temple University Libraries (Thursday to Aug. 5).

The West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Paul Robeson House are collaborating with the African American Museum.

Finally, French artist Tania Mouraud's various video and sound installations will be presented at the Slought Foundation (through April 20), in the Kimmel Center (through May 1), and at the Philadelphia Art Alliance (Friday to May 8).