Elmer Plummer biography provided courtesy of “California Watercolors 1850-1970” By Gordon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last.

Elmer Plummer (1910-1987)...Born: Redlands, CA

Studied: Chouinard Art Institute (Los Angeles)

Member: California Water Color Society.

Elmer Plummer grew up in Redlands, California. As a child, he was friends with Phil Dike, Lee Blair and Preston Blair, but when he was a teenager, he was sent to military school in the San Diego area. Plummer studied watercolor painting in high school and received further instruction from Millard Sheets when he attended the Chouinard Art Institute during the late 1920s.

Plummer soon became close friends with Walt Disney and worked at the Disney Studios. Elmer produced art and developed many of the gag and comic ideas for cartoon shorts featuring Goofy. Some of the feature films he contributed to include Fantasia, Dumbo and The Tbree Caballeros.

During the 1930s, Elmer Plummer produced many outstanding California Style regionalist watercolors. He often chose to depict city scenes with cars, buildings and people. They were sold at Los Angeles art galleries and exhibited in West Coast art shows.

After World War 11, Plummer continued working on special projects for Wait Disney and taught art at the Chouinard Art Institute. He occasionally painted, but rarely exhibited his art after the mid-1940s.

Elmer Plummer biographical information:

Interview with Elmer Plummer, 1984.