Rachel Whiteread

Description	sculptor
Dates	1963
Lived/Worked	britain

Best known for...

The Holocaust memorial in Vienna and Monument which was displayed on Trafalgar Square’s empty plinth.

Why is she important?

As one of Britain's leading contemporary sculptors, Whiteread has undertaken several public commissions. She was awarded the Turner Prize in 1993 for House and, more recently, has completed the Holocaust memorial in Vienna and Monument which was displayed on Trafalgar Square’s empty plinth.

The first monumental sculpture that brought her recognition was Ghost 1990, a plaster cast of the interior space of an ordinary room, shown at the Chisenhale Gallery, London. In 1992-93 Rachel Whiteread worked in Berlin on the DAAD Artists' Programme, which afforded her time to develop her sculpture. Works that followed included casts of the outer spaces of mattresses and mortuary slabs, inner spaces of hot-water bottles, undersides of tables and chairs, the spaces beneath floorboards and impressions of books on shelves. These were executed in a variety of materials - plaster, resin, rubber and plastics, in quiet monochrome and jewel-like colour, depending on the medium.

Historical context?

{Set this designer within a historical context. Which other artists and designers were/are working at the same time? What historical events or movements may have influenced them. Are there any known associates?}

How to see their work

TATE MODERN : The Unilever Series: Rachel Whiteread

11 October 2005 – 1 May 2006