Felix Weiss was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) on 12 April 1907. Trained in Vienna, he became active in London in the early 1930s, exhibiting at the Warren Gallery and gaining attention as a portrait sculptor of political, theatrical, and society figures, including commissions connected with the British monarchy, before moving to the United States, where he became known for his public monuments.
Sculptor Felix Weiss was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) on 12 April 1907, the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer. He trained in Vienna, later recalling being brought up among the city’s churches, palaces, museums, and musical culture, with his youth ‘filled with all the aspects of art’ (Oral History Interview, artist's website). Weiss achieved advanced academic qualifications in art and architecture, stating that after attending Marchetti College (where he received a BA in 1925), he studied at the University of Vienna’s Academy of Creative Arts and School of Architecture, receiving MA and MS degrees in 1927 and a PhD in 1929 (Oral History Interview). He also described subsequent study journeys to Rome and Florence (focusing on Renaissance masters), Spain (including the Prado Museum, Madrid), and Paris, before undertaking a postgraduate course in archaeology at the University of Oxford (Oral History Interview). Later scholarship has noted some ambiguity surrounding these qualifications, observing that a ‘Felix Weiss’ is recorded as having attended classes at the University of Vienna between 1925 and 1930 (Clarke Lemay, p. 106).
By the early 1930s Weiss had moved to London and was well publicised as a young sculptor specialising in prominent sitters. In May 1933 the Illustrated London News reported an exhibition of his work at the Warren Gallery, Maddox Street, describing him as ‘the young Austrian sculptor’ and noting institutional purchases: a head of actress Anna May Wong acquired by Vienna’s Natural History Museum (as a ‘type’ study) and a copy purchased for a museum in Beijing (Illustrated London News 1933, p. 31). Another review commented on the power of his busts and singled out the Anna May Wong head as especially sympathetic and finely modelled (The Scotsman1933, p. 14). During his London years, Weiss maintained a public profile through exhibitions and press coverage. The Jewish Chronicle reviewed his 1933 exhibition with a mixed verdict, acknowledging precocious success and institutional acquisitions, while criticising much of the work as effective likeness-making with limited ‘sculptural value’, though singling out the early terracotta plaque, An Old Comedian for its sensitivity. A key part of his British career was portraiture of political, military, theatrical, and royal figures. In 1935 he produced a portrait bust of King George V connected with the Silver Jubilee celebrations, and in the same year the National Portrait Gallery selected this likeness for its collection. The bust was reported at the time as the ‘last portrait-bust’ of the King (Bridgnorth Journal 1936, p. 3). After George V’s death, Weiss made a portrait bust of Edward VIII for the planned coronation (1936); following the abdication crisis, he produced a coronation-related bust of King George VI in Admiral’s uniform (reproduced in the Daily Mirror 1936, p. 14). An additional plaster working model of Edward VIII is held by Magdalen College, University of Oxford. These royal commissions helped consolidate his reputation in Britain, and he later recalled that members of the royal family (including Queen Mary) took a keen interest in his work (Oral History Interview). Around the same period, he also produced the bust of pianist Edward Cahill (1936) and exhibited at the Royyal Academy of Arts (1936). His London commissions further included portraits of Viscount Allenby (1936) and David Lloyd George (c. 1936). Photographic captions from the period often show him producing celebrity busts, including the actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke and his son (1936), and the distinguished German emigre actress, Luise Rainer (1939). Other international portraits included renowned Swiss-born actor, Emil Jannings (in the role of Nero, and who later starred in State Films in Nazi Germany), Conrad Veidt, Hugo Breitner, and Meir Dizengoff.
By 1938, Weiss was in Canada, where he executed a portrait bust of prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King. While King travelled, Weiss toured the US extensively and decided to settle there, moving to New York City before volunteering for the United States Navy during the Second World War. He served as an enlisted man and worked as a naval aviation artist. While in American service, he modelled a small sculpture based on the widely circulated photograph of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima; this model led to a congressional commission for the Marine Corps War Memorial. Completed over nine years, the final monument—an immense bronze dedicated in 1954—became his defining work and the centrepiece of his public legacy.
In the postwar decades, Weiss received numerous high-profile commissions in Washington, D.C., including portrait busts of Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, as well as major public monuments, such as the American Red Cross Memorial, the Seabees Memorial, and the equestrian statue of Simón Bolívar. From 1950 to 1963 he served on the United States Commission of Fine Arts, contributing to the shaping of the federal monumental landscape under several presidential administrations. Felix Weiss died in the USA on 3 June 2003. In the UK public domain his work is represented in the National Portrait Gallery and University of Oxford collections. An artist's file relating to Weiss is held at the Frick Art Reference Library, comprising study photographs, reproductions, and documentary material dating from c.1920 to 2000.
Irene Iacono
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Felix Weiss]
Publications related to [Felix Weiss] in the Ben Uri Library