Paul Coze (Coze-Dabija) was born in 1903, sources vary as to the place of his birth including Beirut, Lebanon, France and Beyrouth, Syria. He studied in Paris at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly and the École nationale des Arts Décoratifs. He began exhibiting in Paris in 1922 and went on to teach private lessons and served as the head of a French ethnological expedition in Northern Canada. Coze co-wrote the book, Moeurs et Histoire des Indiens Peaux-Rouges. Published in 1928, the book endeavored to give an accurate account of the Native American (Plains Indians), the back cover indicates that Paul Coze "illustrator, ethnologist and writer, was one of the best connoisseurs and defenders of Indian culture (philosophy, spirituality, art)."
Coze-Dabija began teaching in Pasadena, California in 1942 and in Phoenix, Arizona in 1953. He also served as French consul for Arizona. He is known for his landscapes of the American Southwest.