Lot Essay
Coutan was awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1871 and first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1871, then at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. Head of the Manufacture de Sèvres from 1891 to 1894, he took over Flaguière's position at the Académie in 1900. He was commissioned to contribute to the sculptural decoration of some of Paris' most important buildings such as the Palais de Justice and the Hôtel de Ville. Internationally his work includes a pediment in New York's Grand Central Station and a monument to Carlos Pelligrini in Buenos Aires.