After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he came to Los Angeles and studied with Henry Lee McFee, Phil Dike, and Rico Lebrun; and at Chouinard Art Institute, Jepson Art Institute, and the University of Southern California's Roski School of Fine Arts.
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Among his many accomplishments during his long career, he painted the Grand Canyon and Primeval World Diorama scenery (viewable from the train of Disneyland Railroad), portions of Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World and the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in California.
Delmer Daves | Delmer J. Yoakum | Célestin Delmer | Delmer, Kentucky |
On the faculty, internationally acclaimed figurative artists Rico Lebrun and Francis de Erdely attracted students who later achieved distinction in their own fields such as sculptor Marisol Escobar ("Marisol"), painters Frederick Hammersley and Delmer J. Yoakum, illustrator David Passalaqua, art director Richard Bousman, and architectural sculptor Malcolm Leland.
Among the artists Benton influenced as a teacher at KCAI were Frederic James, Margot Peet, Jackson Lee Nesbitt, Roger Medearis, Glenn Gant, and Delmer J. Yoakum.