KISS, kls, August, German sculptor: b. near Pies, 11 Oct. 1802; d. Berlin, 24 March 1865. Educated to his profession in Berlin, he soon showed, after graduation, considerable originality which one of his teachers, Rauch, had early discovered in him. His first notable work, 'A Mounted Amazon attacked by a Tiger,' was produced for Louis I of Bavaria (1842), in marble and afterward cast in bronze by the noted founder, Fischer, for the portico of the Berlin Museum, where it still forms one of the notable and attractive features of the art treasure of the German capital. Kiss made a very careful study of animals at rest and in action and was able to seize, in a notable man ner, the striking features of animal life and to couple them with infinite and carefully wrought-out details. These and other qual ities, especially dramatic action and clever grouping, which distinguish all his work, are especially present in this, his first great effort, which is, by the general concensus of opinion, looked upon as the best expression of his ideals, his planning and his execution. Kiss made
numerous statues, all executed on a high plane, some of them of notable persons and others of them developing some incident or scene. Among the most notable of his works are 'Equestrian Statue of Frederick the Great' (1847, at Breslau); one statue of Frederick William II at Potsdam, and another at Konigs berg; 'Saint Michael Fighting the Dragon' (Babelsberg Castle) ; 'Saint George Slaying the Dragon' (in the courtyard of the Schloss hof, Berlin) • 'Faith, Hope and Charity) (mar ble group, National Gallery, Berlin) • six fine bronze statues of Prussian generals (Wilhelms Platz, Berlin).