Rain in the Face, the celebrated Hunkpapa Lakota warrior, is the subject of this cabinet card made by D. F. Barry of Bismarck, Dakota Territory, and copyrighted in 1885. Barry, who operated from Bismarck and became one of the foremost photographers of Plains Indian leaders in the post-Civil War era, produced an extensive series of portraits for commercial sale, advertised on the reverse as "Photos of All Noted Indians." The image is a three-quarter-length studio portrait rendered in warm albumen tones.

Rain in the Face wears a loose-fitting trade cloth coat over a collarless shirt, with a knotted neckerchief at his throat and a white-tipped bone or shell ornament suspended on his chest. His long dark hair falls past his shoulders, and a single black-and-white feather rises vertically from the crown of his head. His expression is composed and direct, his gaze meeting the camera at a slight upward angle.

Rain in the Face was a prominent war leader who fought at the Little Bighorn in 1876 and was the subject of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1876 poem bearing his name, which cemented his fame in American popular culture. Barry's portrait series brought his image wide circulation during the reservation era.

The mount reverse bears the printed imprint "D. F. Barry, Photographer, Bismarck, North Dakota," the decorative engraving of two figures before a tipi, the advertising line "Photos of All Noted Indians, Catalogues Mailed on Application," and a handwritten notation "EQQ" in the upper right corner. The recto states "Copyrighted by D. F. Barry, 1885, Bismarck, Dak."

From the collection of James Lee Soffer