Rock Art Research

By the early twentieth century in the mountain highlands of what is now Lesotho, few if any  , Bushmen (San, Baroa) lived as hunter-gatherers in independent communities. In 1932, Masitise, a Phuthi  man, created some ‘Bushman paintings’ on the veranda wall of the British Residency in Quthing for Marion  How, wife of the District Commissioner. The majority of the imagery refers to a battle scene between two  Bushman chiefs, Soai and Mphaki. Other imagery includes eland, a snake and an imaginary figure Masitise  described as a ‘mythical beast’. Similar imagery occurs in a rock shelter half a kilometre from the Residency,  reportedly painted in 1929. We use digital enhancement and visual analysis to deepen understanding of the  stylistic and iconographical similarities, and to argue that the two sets of figures may have been products of the same hand. This small body of work provides a glimpse into the life of Masitise. Taking inspiration from the Bushman tradition and finding his way in a new world order, Masitise combined realism and ambiguity in a distinctive expression, establishing a unique position for himself as an artist crossing boundaries and working ‘in-between’. His Residency painting makes a powerful political statement about social tensions in  early twentieth-century Basutoland in a provocative portrayal of local history