Gelatin silver print from the 1898 Indian Congress series, copyrighted by Heyn Photo, Omaha, and depicting Rocky Bear (Oglala Lakota) in full regalia. This portrait derives from the celebrated body of work produced at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha, where more than 500 Native delegates sat for formal studio photographs now regarded as among the most important visual records of Plains leadership at the turn of the century.

Rocky Bear was a senior Oglala figure and a noted participant in late-19th-century delegations to Washington and public exhibitions. In this portrait he wears a fully beaded headband, feathered warbonnet, embroidered hide shirt with quilled panels, and holds a painted pipe. The sitter’s age, expression, and the sculptural lighting typical of the Omaha studio sessions give the image a gravity that has made it one of the most frequently reproduced likenesses from the series.

The copyright stamp (“Copyright 1898 by Heyn Photo, Omaha”) identifies this as a period enlargement issued by the Heyn studio using the original Indian Congress negative. These enlargements circulated for decades as exhibition and educational prints and survive far less commonly than the smaller platinum and cabinet formats.

Moderate age toning and minor creasing at the upper right edge, but strong clarity across the sitter’s face, beadwork, and featherwork. A significant, early print of one of the best-known Oglala sitters from the most important photographic project of the 1890s documenting Plains leaders.