[1] Later he taught at the École des Beaux-Arts from 1900, where he expressed his disdain for the researches of Rodin (as fumiste[2]) and the Impressionist sculptors who followed him.

[3] Coutan is best known in the United States for the sculptural group above the entrance to Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

For Grand Central Terminal, Coutan was contracted to provide a quarter-size scale plaster model of the three-figure allegorical Transportation group, which he developed from 1911 through 1914.

[4] The small bronzes, some stamped by the founders Thiebaut Frères, that represented a constant source of income for Coutan and a genre typical of his output, appear with some frequency on the art market.

[5] Among Coutan's students were Hippolyte Lefèbvre, Raymond Delamarre, Louis-Eugène Tauzin, and the Argentine sculptor Rogelio Yrurtia.