Whiteread << WHYT reed >>, Rachel (1963-…), is a British sculptor whose work features casts of everyday objects, such as a bed, doorknob, stairway, and hot-water bottle. Her materials include plaster, concrete, and resin.
Whiteread is best known for her controversial sculpture Untitled (House). The work consisted of a concrete cast of a complete house in the East End of London. After the cast was completed, the house was destroyed, leaving the cast standing on the site. The project generated publicity throughout the United Kingdom and probably helped Whiteread win the 1993 Turner Prize. This prize is an annual award given to a British artist under the age of 50. Whiteread was the first woman artist to win the prize. The sculptor’s supporters called House a masterpiece, and her detractors claimed it had little aesthetic appeal. In 1994, the local government demolished the cast.
Whiteread was born in London on April 20, 1963. She studied at Brighton Polytechnic (now the University of Brighton), in East Sussex, England, from 1982 to 1985. She attended the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1985 to 1987. In 1988, she held her first solo exhibition. It featured such works as Ear and Bentwood Chair. In 1996, she received a commission to create a Holocaust memorial on Judenplatz, in Vienna, Austria. The Holocaust was the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II (1939-1945). The memorial was unveiled in 2000. In 1997, Whiteread became the first British woman artist to have a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale art exposition.
See also Young British Artists.
