Stephen Townley Bassett

I was born in Cape Town and completed my secondary education at Rondebosch Boys’ High School. I graduated from UCT with a Bachelor of Social Science degree. In 1988 I gave up my full-time career in the corporate world and pursued a career in painting. Today I am a specialist in the field of Southern African rock paintings. My primary interests lie in the accurate full colour documentation of the art as well as research into pigments, paints and implements used by early hunter-gatherers of the region. I consult with landowners on the conservation and management of sites too. My specialist abilities lie in the accurate documentation of rock paintings and have allowed me to explore wildlife oil paintings with similar accuracy. I have exhibited my oils and rock art documentary paintings both locally and internationally. I have been commissioned by landowners as well as organisations such as Caltex Oil and Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve. In 2009 the South African Department of Arts and Culture purchased two of my works as gifts for two foreign countries, following an exhibition on rock art that I held at The Origins Centre Museum, Wits University, Johannesberg.I continue with field work and accurate documentation of rock art and am currently working towards publishing another book on rock art as well as a proposed exhibition at the Origins Centre Museum, Wits University, in Johannesburg.  I have and still am involved in the rehabilitation and removal of graffiti from rock art sites in South Africa. In this regard I have worked in the Western Cape and removed graffiti from over 20 rock art sites in KZN Drakensberg Mountains.