His early training at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Bremen completed, Warneke went to Berlin when he was eighteen and entered the Academy of Fine Arts there. Recreational trips to the country around Berlin gave him the idea of translating his lifelong interest in animals into small sculptures of docile creatures, a genre for which he became well known. During this period, he also worked in a porcelain factory, experimenting with various glazes and firing techniques, and in a machine shop where he became familiar with an array of tools and materials. From these experiences, he gained the ability to carve and model in a variety of media.
During World War I, Warneke went to Bucharest to work with other artists on war memorials and, at the end of the war, established a studio in Berlin. Financial problems in post-war Germany encouraged his emigration in 1923 to America. He settled in St. Louis, where he had friends, and quickly gained commissions for two large works: an eagle for the Masonic Temple in Fort Scott, Kansas, and a relief for the City Club Building in St. Louis. He was also able to secure the Milch Gallery in New York as his professional representative and it was to that city that he moved in 1927. Two years later he went to Paris where he studied and worked for a short time.
During the 1930s, Warneke's animal sculptures won a number of important awards and several pieces were acquired by major museums. Examples of these and other works were shown at the annual exhibitions of the National Academy beginning in 1935.
Warneke moved to Washington in 1942 to assume the chairmanship of the sculpture department at the Corcoran School of Art. He had already completed several government commissions for public sculpture in the capital city, including the statue Express Mail Carrier (1935-1936) for the Post Office Department Building, and a group in cast stone, Wrestling Bears, for the National Zoo. In 1943, his large Nittany Lion was executed in situ at Pennsylvania State University as a demonstration for art students, and in the early 1960s he designed a number of works for Washington Cathedral.
