Couse was born in Saginaw, Michigan, where he first started drawing the Chippewa Indians who lived nearby. Couse worked hard to pay for his art education, occasionally dropping out to earn money while attending the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Academy of Design.

In 1887 Couse left for Paris to study at the Academie Julian, where he met the American artist, Joseph Henry Sharp, who often spoke of Taos. Couse would become a frequent visitor to Taos. From 1887 to 1890 at the Julien Academy he studied under Robert Fleury and Bouguereau.

In Paris he met an Oregon girl and in 1889 the two were married. They moved to Oregon where Couse painted Northwest coast Indians but the paintings did not sell. Couse complained that the Indians were not red and that the weather was gray. He spent the next ten years on the coast of Normandy, painting marketable pastorals and marines, then returned to a studio in New York City. On the recommendation of Joseph Henry Sharp and also of Blumenschein, Couse made his first visit to Taos in June of 1902.

Couse spent his winters in New York City and each summer in Taos where the Indians called him "Green Mountain" because he was rather "large and round, and often wears a green sweater." When the Taos Society of Artists was formed, Couse was elected its first President.

In 1927, Couse gave up his New York City studio and settled permanently in Taos, bringing recognition to "the community and its Indian heritage. Each of his compositions gives a true picture of some phase of Indian life, and each Indian is true to the type. He has come as close to the spirit of the Indian as the white man ever can." A good merchandiser of his own paintings, Couse produced about fifteen hundred in his lifetime.

Couse is best known for his intimate images of Native Americans in moments of spiritual ceremony and quiet repose. Millions of people recognize his art because it appeared in the annual calendar of the Santa Fe Railway Company.

During his career, Couse exhibited widely and won numerous awards at: the Paris Salon, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the American Exposition, Buffalo, the Boston Art Club, the Corcoran Gallery and the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. His works are held in many museums in the United States and around the world.

Couse died in Taos, New Mexico in 1936.