After two years of study at the Kansas City Art Institute and mural painting with Dan MacMorris, Warren spent six years on the art staff of the Kansas City Star. In 1924 he received a fellowship to study at the L.C. Tiffany Fellowship in Oyster Bay, Long Island and afterwards moved to New York where he studied at the Art Students League and at the Grand Central School of Art.
During World War II he did War Bond posters for the US Treasury Department. He had exhibitions at the Milch Galleries in 1946 and 1949. In 1950 he was invited to be a visiting artist at the University of Georgia by Lamar Dodd. The following year he was appointed head of the art department of Agnes Scott College in Decatur where he taught until 1969. In 1957 he painted a series of murals "A History of the Printed Word" for the reception room of the printing house, Foote and Davies of Atlanta.
Warren's style is based on a study of the old masters. The titles of his works: Rockies, Manhattan Skyline, Wreck at Squeaker Cover show the varied nature of his subject matter. While in Georgia he painted many scenes of the countryside around Decatur. His later work tended toward the abstract.
He was nominated to the NAD by Andrew Winter; the two met in 1925 at the Tiffany Foundation. Warren served on the NAD council.
