Dominique Tarle’s wonderfully evocative 1971 Exile sessions at Villa Nellcote have a deserved mythical status among Stones collectors.
Tarle recounted to the New York Times that, “A carnival of characters paraded through: Terry Southern, Gram Parsons, John Lennon, even a tribal band from Bengal… dope dealers from Marseilles; petty thieves, who stole most of the drugs and half the furniture; and hangers-on, all of them there to witness what was happening.”
Dominique’s exquisite limited editions can be yours in a range of physical sizes starting with a 20×24 inch paper size. Please note that Dominique has requested that we do not show his prices on the website. If you would like information about a specific photograph please just ask, and we will send you the latest pricing and size information for the piece(s) that interests you.
A selection of photographs taken of Dominique Tarle’s work installed at the gallery.
Villa Nellcote sessions
This is, perhaps, the most iconic and recognisable photograph in the collection. Keith is reclining on the floor with his telecaster surrounded by Anita Pallenberg, Gram Parsons and Gram’s girlfriend at the time, Gretchen Burell.
“For me Dominique possessed an almost unique quality. I realise, looking at these moments he captured, that he was part of the family, the band in fact. He was also an Exile, in his own country.”
– Keith Richards
“For me the whole of the game was to remain invisible and to have the least possible impact on what was going on around me.”
– Dominique Tarle
“I’m listening to these tracks, and suddenly I’m back in that old basement in the south of France.”
– Keith Richards
“To me, Exile on Main St. was probably the best Rolling Stones album as far as the connection between the band members. We were coming up with song ideas like crazy. And the ideas were catching on. Everybody was going flat-out.”
– Keith Richards
Biography
Dominique Tarlé is an acclaimed French photographer best known for his association with The Rolling Stones. He moved to London from France in 1968 with the goal of photographing rock’n’roll as it unfolded around him. The Stones escaped the UK’s punitive tax regime in 1971 and decamped to the South of France at Villa Nellcôte, where Keith had set up house with Anita Pallenberg and their son Marlon. It became the location where Exile On Main Street was recorded, with the help of a mobile recording truck connected to a basement studio.
Tarle’s beautifully evocative photographs from Nellcote are renowned among Stones fans the world over. They have been the subject of a sold-out, limited edition volume, Exile (2002). In an interview, Tarle said, “… I realised that pictures are far more important than the photographers themselves. For myself, I could only say that the whole of the game was to remain invisible and to have the least possible impact on what was going on around me.”