Boyd Elder

Harold Boyd Elder (January 12, 1944 – October 6, 2018), was an American artist. Elder studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1968. Elder had a major exhibition of his works in an art gallery in 1972.

Elder is best known for creating the painted skulls used in the cover artwork for The Eagles' 1975 album One of These Nights and their compilation album Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975). On October 16, 2018, Elder died of natural causes in San Marcos, Texas.

Early life Elder was born in El Paso, Texas, to Hal Elder and Billye Lee Bell Elder, a family with close links to Valentine, Texas. He had two brothers Kenneth Mack Elder and Howard Stanton Elder. He was a friend of Bobby Fuller, who acted as a patron and helped establish Elder's first studio in Los Angeles. The intention was that Elder would create artwork for Fuller's album covers, although the project was never realized after Fuller died in 1966. However, on May 31, 1973, his studio burnt down including 15 pieces of the artwork that he had planned to exhibit. Having also lost his art supplies in the fire, he started to use the skulls of animals including a cow and a bull that had died in a flood on which to paint, inspired by a painted turkey breastbone sent to him as a present by Rick Griffin. Elder presented two of his works to the Eagles in Dallas in late 1974, one of which was then chosen for the cover of One of These Nights. The artist was paid $5,000 for the work.

Elder continued to produce a number of skull artwork after the Eagles covers. He also produced works in various media such as plastics and resins, holographic foil and aluminum, as well as multi-media works. He served as caretaker for an art installation called Prada Marfa, a fake Prada store erected in Valentine.

He produced artwork in Valentine and showed them in the nearby town of Marfa, Texas.