The Galerie de l’Instant in Paris is showcasing never-before-seen photographs by the famous French photographer who spent six months in the French Riviera with one of the world’s greatest rock bands. It was 1971, the year The Rolling Stones recorded the album Exile on Main St. (Dailymail)
The six months they spent in southern France have become the stuff of legend among music fans, with stars such as John Lennon making regular visits to the 54-room mansion, which was rented by Sir Keith.
Actor Jake Weber, eight at the time, who is seen in one of the photographs, revealed in 2010 how he was taken to the villa by his drug-dealing father, who had secretly hidden packets of cocaine inside the boy's shirt on a flight from Ireland.
Watch the full 'king size' photogallery by Daily Mail HERE Or by Blind-Magazine HERE
Incredibly, the now-iconic photos from that summer remained locked in a drawer for 30 years after being rejected by publishers at the time, before selling like hotcakes when they resurfaced decades later in a photobook, simply named Exile, in 2001.
This impressive collection of photographs is like a story within a story and so on. It’s the story of Villa Nellcote, a superb Belle Époque residence which served as a home away from home for countless celebrities, from billionaires to diplomats, to a Titanic survivor. It’s also the story of the legendary British band which pumped a massive dose of rock’n’roll into the place. And it’s the story of a young French photographer who had been raised on Black American music, rockers like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, and of course the Kinks, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin, and who was about to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Galerie de l’Instant in Paris whisks us to the French Riviera, to Villefranche-sur-Mer, and invites us to discover archival images that still hold many secrets, glimpsed in fifty unpublished works and a beautiful book publication in 33 rpm format. (Blind -magazine)
