Stephen Townley Bassett is possessed by a passion to make accurate and beautiful reproductions of the Bushman/San rock art of South Africa. In pursuing this passion he has made great material and emotional sacrifices. In an interview with Prime Origins, he indicated that he would continue with this pursuit no matter what obstacles lay in his way.

He is not the first to be gripped by this passion. Harald Pager, another in the line of rock art copyists made great sacrifices to render San rock art in fine and accurate reproductions.

Stephen Bassett is the latest in this line of copyists and brings new standards of excellence to his reproductions, as well as innovative use of natural pigment.

He was clearly influenced by his uncle, R.Townley(Ginger) Johnson, another rock art copyist who published a significant book "Major Rock Paintings of Southern Africa." Stephen recalls going on field trips with his uncle from the age of 14 and clearly his interest was sparked by this 'larger than life' uncle. Much later there was even talk between the two of a collaborative book venture. 'Ginger's' death ended the prospect of this potential colloboration and Stephen was left to conceptualise a rock art book of his own. " A Legacy Revealed" is this book.

After a Commerce Degree and several years of working in business, Stephen gave it all up to pursue his passion. He has now spent twelve years engaged in this field and in talking to him, and in seeing his work, one begins to realise the dedication required to follow this path.

Each work can take up to a week of painstaking tracing, photography, matching of colour charts and scrutinising of detail with field microscopes to begin to gain a sense of the splendid paintings which might lie beneath a deteriorated and weathered surface. Stephen speaks of winter nights spent in caves using ultraviolet light to get a better sense of where patches of white colour might lie. In all this one gets a sense of a relentless preoccupation with creating reproductions of the art which are of such accuracy that they are 'historical documents'.

The other major contribution that Stephen has made has been to use only natural materials to provide his pigments and his materials. For pigments he has used ochres, animal fats, blood, eggs, saliva, plant resins, charcoal, raptor droppings and even cobra venom. For the brushes he has experimented with feathers and porcupine quills; and even the tendons of spring hares were used to bind the shaft of a reed pen. Again one has a sense of someone who is prepared to dedicate himself to a pursuit and to imaginatively enter the world of the San artist and in so doing begin to help us understand the world of paints and pigments of the San.

It is certain that this recently published book is not the last contribution Stephen Townley Bassett will make to the world of rock art.