For those who couldn’t join us for our recent project, we’d love to share its essence. This collaboration brings together art, tradition, and sensory experience in a memory-evoking display of modern and contemporary art. It features works by artist Isabelle Weir alongside selected pieces from the Modern Originals Collection, a discussion with writer and restaurateur Simonetta Wenkert, and a tasting table showcasing recipes from her recent memoir, Ida at My Table..
This project showcased three distinct selections of artwork that sparked conversations between past and present, tradition and innovation. Along the sides of the space, we displayed a series of landscape miniatures by Isabelle Weir, a contemporary classical realist painter born and raised in Somerset.
Trained in the rich traditions of Italian painting, Weir’s work captures the ever-changing landscapes of her surroundings through a fresh, modern perspective. To complement these landscapes, and to build on the themes explored during the event, we included a selection of still lifes, portraits, and nudes—works from the Modern Originals Collection at White Chapel Somerset.
Through this curated display, personal memory and collective history blends while the classical bridges with the contemporary. Isabelle Weir’s landscapes from 2023 reflect this balance. Trained at the Florence Academy of Art and with a background in History of Art from Cambridge University, Weir’s practice is a testament to the power of craftsmanship, light, and form. Her work is deeply influenced by art history, considering movements from Giotto’s medieval frescoes to British Modernism. This intellectual engagement with history feeds her creative process, bringing a rich depth to each piece.
Alongside Weir’s landscapes, we featured lithographs by prominent 20th-century artists, including Vlaminck, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, and Braque.
These lithographs add a dynamic layer to the project, with their vibrant colour, intimate depictions of interior life, and fleeting moments of human experience. Vlaminck’s bold brushwork, Vuillard’s intimate portraits, Bonnard’s lyrical approach to the human figure, and Braque’s quiet still lifes all echo the themes of memory and time.
At the core of Weir’s practice is a sensitivity to time and the embodied act of painting. Each landscape is a study of light and change, with the exact dates of creation reflected in the titles of the works. Over 18 months, Weir immersed herself in the rhythm of the changing seasons, capturing the subtle nuances of sunrise and sunset. In her own words, “There is something very calming about the predictability in the changing light,” she reflects, describing her practice as a way to engage with the world as a living composition. Through quick, raw brushwork, Weir creates paintings that feel alive and immediate—conveying the shifting atmosphere of each moment.
In addition to the art on display, the exhibition explored the intersection between painting and sensory memory. Simonetta Wenkert’s writing, which delves into the legacy of her family’s restaurant, was also an essential part of this project. In her recent memoir, Ida at My Table, a story of family, food and finding. home, Simonetta explored how food, history, and personal memory creates meaningful experiences.
In conversation with Miranda Glover, founder of White Chapel Somerset, she shared the intricate family history that brought Avi and Simonetta together in Rome—a journey that became a lifelong adventure in family, food, and finding home at Ida in London’s Kensal Rise. From the humble Italian roots of Avi’s mother, Ida—the restaurant’s namesake—to Simonetta’s expatriate upbringing in London with her own personality-rich Italian mother, their shared history weaves together Italy, Israel, Greece and London in a rich blend of culinary tradition and passion. The result is the extraordinary success of this small, beloved restaurant, now a favourite among celebrities, royalty, and loyal locals alike.
Just as Weir’s landscapes capture fleeting moments of light, Simonetta’s writing preserves the sensory history of her family’s restaurant—where taste, scent, and texture become vessels for cultural and personal memories. Both painting and cooking transform raw materials—pigments, flour, oils—into something lasting and nourishing.
This project is a meditation on continuity—connecting artistic and culinary traditions, personal memory and collective experience, and the timeless intersection of art, craft, and history. To look at a painting, or to cook and eat a dish, is not a passive act. Both invite us to bring our own senses, histories, and emotions to the experience.
We’re proud to offer all the works from this exhibition for sale, giving you the opportunity to bring these reflections on memory, history, and sensory experience into your own space. If you missed out on the event, we encourage you to visit us at White Chapel Somerset and explore these elegant pieces in person.
Isabelle Weir's work and the curated Modern Originals Collection for this project are on view by appointment at White Chapel Somerset until April 5. Contact us to arrange a visit.
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