Le Stryge; Notre Dame is believed to date from 1901, when it was exhibited as a bromide print by Coburn during the Forty-sixth Annual Exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society in London in 1901. This example, showing slight blue tones, is a hand-pulled photogravure by the Photochrome Engraving Company of New York City. It was included in the February, 1902 issue of The Photographic Times.

The online catalogue for Exhibitions of the Royal Photographic Society 1870-1915 indicate Coburn’s study of two gargoyles watching over the city of Paris from a tower parapet of the Cathedral of Notre Dame was inspired by French artist Charles Méryon, (1821-1868) who had done an etching of the gargoyle at center in 1853 and titled it Le Stryge.  (The Vampire)

titled within lower plate impression:

LE STRYGE;  NOTRE DAME.
BY ALVIN LANGDON COBURN,
PHILADELPHIA SALON 1901.

Original copy for this entry posted to Facebook on April 22, 2012:

Several uncommon photographs by important members of the American Photo-Secession have been placed on the site recently. “Autumn” by Gertrude Käsebier, appears as part of gravure plates issued with The Photographic Times-Bulletin in 1903 and this image, “Le Stryge; Notre Dame”, (The Vampire; Notre Dame) by Alvin Langdon Coburn, appeared a year earlier in the Photographic Times. Depicting monkey and bird gargoyles perched high atop Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the scene is believed to be an homage to French artist Charles Méryon, who first immortalized the monkey grotesque in an 1853 etching.  Anyone who has had the great pleasure of making their way to the parapets of this great edifice can see the city spread out below, with the immortal gaze of these creatures unchanged even today.