At the end of the XIX century, long before anyone in Buenos Aires used the word lettering, immigrant artists experimented with long-haired brushes and texts searching for an identity for a still very young City. They eventually found it with mischievous phrases, imitations and jokes.
If tango is the music of Buenos Aires, Fileteado is its stroke, its handwriting, its signature. Coiled, ornate and dramatic, just like the spirit of Buenos Aires, fileteado and its messages are a reminder to inhabitants and tourists, of the origins, history and philosophy that shaped this corner of Argentina.
Read on to find out more about this art, so characteristic of the City, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.
When was fileteado born?
Fileteado originated at the end of the XIX century in Ciudad de Buenos Aires, as a decorative painting practice for commercial wagons used to transport goods to different neighbourhood markets. Just like tango, its origin took place in a context of coexistence of cultures, among predominantly immigrant popular sectors, in areas related to port activities.
The objective of these colourful decorations, with ornaments and phrases, was to distinguish the vehicles and to promote the owner’s business. In a context of growth opportunities for migrant families, fileteado became a symbol of the prosperity associated to work in the new city.
The first fileteado artists were Italian immigrants, who taught the trade to their sons. Their workplace was in coachbuilding workshops, and board fileteado was the last task in the production chain.
Over the decades, Fileteado expanded to other transportation vehicles, such as lorries and buses. Thus, it became part of the urban landscape giving the City its unique aesthetic character and a distinctive mark of Buenos Aires cultural identity. Some artists developed characteristic styles and consolidated fileteado as a unique pictorial genre, different from any other known.
Such is the importance of this art, that on September 14th Fileteado Porteño Day is celebrated in commemoration of the first exhibition held on that date in 1970 in Buenos Aires, at Galería Wildenstein.
What are the main features of Fileteado?
In stylistic terms, fileteado is characterised by the distinctive combination of decorative motifs (flowers, ribbons, spirals and other geometric shapes), animals, human figures, phrases and the use of a colour palette that creates works of great visual impact.
Some of the ornamental elements that make up fileteado design, such as acanthus leaves, ovals, buttons and diamonds, flowers and spiral lines, were inspired by the houses of Buenos Aires of the late XIX and early XX centuries.
The main influences on this local architecture were foreign academicist styles and their classicist references, which were resignified into local stylistic versions.
Fileteado never comes alone: it is generally used to write witty phrases, poetic sayings or humorous, emotional or philosophical aphorisms, expressed in lunfardo, the colloquial and tango language of the city.
Women in Fileteado
Men were the ones who created and practised fileteado for decades, as work orders were made by lorry and bus drivers, jobs that were considered unsuitable for women. But, as from 1990 several women began to take up the craft as well.
Little by little, talented women painters began to learn fileteado and thus, in September 2003 an exhibition featuring works made by 15 women was organised at the Museo de Arte Popular José Hernández.
San Telmo neighbourhood is a good place to get in touch with this unique expression of the City. Visit it and discover more!