Original Oversize Collage for Side 1 & 2 Innersleeve for Rolling Stone's Album Exile on Main St., 1972

This original artwork collage was used as the inner sleeve for the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. Album. Track 2 of side 2, listed on this piece, tells of a guitarist whose coat is “torn and frayed.” It also offers a clue to the design style employed by John Van Hamersveld in creating Exile’s back cover sleeves. Images of a NYC jukebox, a lonely New Mexico interstate road and various Exile sidemen were torn and taped by Van Hamersveld to create the collage on the sleeves. Around these images the designer cut, arranged and taped bits of paper containing album credits handwritten by Stones’ vocalist Mick Jagger.    

All images featured on this collage were captured by photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank (1924-2019). Frank used a Canon Super 8-millimeter motion picture camera to film Exile’s sidemen Bobby Keys (inset), Jim Price (middle right), and producer Jimmy Miller (lower right) in various states of candid expression. In addition, Frank’s footage of a 1955 photograph titled “U.S. 285, New Mexico” was recaptured on Super 8. Frank contributed over 200 images to the album’s cover art. 

The Rolling Stones are a British rock band, formed in 1962 that gained mainstream prominence with hits such as “(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,” “Get Off of My Cloud,” and “Paint It Black.” The band has received multiple Grammy nominations and Awards and is included in the Billboard All-Time Top Artists chart.