Katie Allen
Associate Specialist
Lot 66
Boyd Elder (American, 1944-2018): The lithograph used on the album cover for the Eagles' album One of These Nights, 1975,
Amended
20 – 30 June 2025, 12:00 PDT
Online, Los AngelesSold for US$5,120 inc. premium
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Fred Lawton
Cataloguer
Claire Tole-Moir
Head of Department
Boyd Elder (American, 1944-2018): The lithograph used on the album cover for the Eagles' album One of These Nights,
1975,
lithograph artwork featuring a cow skull adorned with Native American-inspired decorations and glass beads, print inscribed AP IV in pencil to lower left margin and signed and dated '1980' by the artist to the lower right margin, framed and glazed,
34 1/2 x 38 1/2in
lithograph artwork featuring a cow skull adorned with Native American-inspired decorations and glass beads, print inscribed AP IV in pencil to lower left margin and signed and dated '1980' by the artist to the lower right margin, framed and glazed,
34 1/2 x 38 1/2in
Footnotes
This is the image that Gary Burden used for the cover of One of These Nights, the fourth and last cover Burden made for Eagles. Released in 1975, the record became the Eagles' first number one album.
Boyd Elder:
Boyd Elder was an American artist from El Paso, Texas. 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, the famous El Chingadero. Elder was a popular figure in the Laurel Canyon community, with strong friendships with Bobby Fuller, Glenn Frey, Rick Griffin and Gary Burden.
Most people have almost certainly seen his work in a record store. Whether it be on the Eagles' 1975 album One of These Nights, the powerful image of a bull's skull with colored zigzags, set in front of a pair of wings. Or the artwork for the Eagles 1976 album Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975), featuring a plaster cast of a bird skull floating above a blue and silver background.
"The cow skull is pure cowboy, folk, the decorations are American Indian inspired and the future is represented by the more polished reflective glass beaded surfaces covering the skull."
- Gary Burden
One of These Nights:
Burden commented on the Eagles; "They are without a doubt some of the funniest human beings I have ever met. This album came at a time when the band and the music was poised to make a seismic shift from folk/country/rock headed towards a more polished and sophisticated music and "look" that culminated with Hotel California. I decided to focus on the front cover and create a magical talisman to represent and express the powerful dark magic of the band and the music. I went to a friend, Boyd Elder... a part of our extended "family". I chose this particular piece of art because it represents, to me, where the band was coming from and where they are going. The cow skull is pure cowboy, folk, the decorations are American Indian inspired and the future is represented by the more polished reflective glass beaded surfaces covering the skull. All set against the dark eagle feather wings that speak of mysterious powers".
To make the image command a presence on the record, Burden made it stand up off the page by debossing large areas and doing detailed embossing in the wings and the feathers.
This album artwork received a Grammy Nomination for "Best Album Packaging", see lot 71.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of this classic album released in 1975.
Saleroom notices
Please note this artist's proof should be dated 1980, not 1975 as described in the catalogue.
Additional information
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