Who is the latest famous person to have no known likeness?

Upvote:5

I am intentionally scorning your arbitrary definition of "famous". There is a very famous contemporary British artist called Banksy, of whom there is no image, photographic or otherwise.

Upvote:8

Thasunke Itko or Crazy Horse (c. 1840-1877) has no known image from his lifetime.

There is a photograph allegedly but not certainly of him, and a drawing based on his sister's description made in 1934. And a giant statue being carved in a mountain since 1948.

But there is no certainly authentic photograph or drawing made during his lifetime.

And the same should be true for a number (though not all) of other famous American Indians during the 19th century, some of whom may have died after Crazy Horse.

Added May 3 2019. Of course many famous native Americans or American Indians like Crazy Horse have been depicted by actors in various movies and television episodes. And often there was little resemblance between the various actors who portrayed the same historic person.

Upvote:15

I'll lead with Sacagawea (May 1788 - December 1812), the guide/interpreter for Lewis and Clark who clearly is both objectively famous, and lacks both an entry in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica and even a mention in the article for Meriwether Lewis.

Update: - from Sacagewea Dollar - Initial Design Selection on Wikipedia (my emphasis)

the Commission chose an obverse design depicting Sacagawea with her infant son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, as designed by sculptor Glenna Goodacre. Goodacre chose Randy'L He-dow Teton to model for Sacagawea, of whom there are no known contemporary portraits, to help the artist capture the features of a young Native American woman

Further - I submit that any historical person chosen as a design image for a United States dollar coin is, objectively, famous.

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