Allan R. Banks was born in 1948, in Dearborn, Michigan.  Currently President of the American Society of Classical Realism, Banks began his studies at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit.  Subsequently, he spent four years at Atelier Lack, and a year with R. H. Ives Gammell.

Awards and honors Banks has won include an award from the Ohio Arts Council, a grant from the John F. and Anna Lee Stacy Foundation, and two separate Greenshields grants.

He has been featured on the cover of American Artist magazine, and along with a number of his colleagues in this exhibition, had works included in the book Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston School.

He was founder and director of the Atelier of Plein Air Studies (Safety Harbor, Florida).

His work has been included in the permanent collections of several museums, including the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Newark Museum of Art.

He has currently retired from most teaching, but continues to live and paint in Florida where he specializes in plein-air and figurative works, and portraits.