He worked as a Works Progress Administration artist for the Federal Art Project and taught art at the Harlem Community Art Center in New York City, where he was a noted contemporary, friend and partner of another famous African-American artist, Charles Alston, with whom he ran the Alston-Bannarn Harlem Art Workshop in Harlem/NYC, NY. He was intimately associated with the "Harlem Renaissance" of the 1930s, being considered as one of the movement's preeminent contributors. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070620212944/http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/docs/annual2005-6.pdf] Although he is primarily known for his work in sculpture, he was equally skilled as a figurist and character artist in the various paint mediums, Conté crayon, pastel, free-form sketch, etc.