Maurice UTRILLO (1883-1955). Autograph manuscript signed, Au - Lot 359

Maurice UTRILLO (1883-1955). Autograph manuscript signed, Aux vaillants soldats, héros, martyrs, de la catastrophe de Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne (Haute-Savoie), Paris December 25, 1923; 2pages large folio (33.5x26cm; one edge a little frayed). Important poem enhanced with gouache. The poem consists of 10 quatrains, in tribute to the 435 dead of the railway accident involving a military convoy of leave-holders, which occurred at Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne on December 12, 1917: "Las! par un sombre jour de décembre endeuillé,/ L'an mil-neuf-cent-dix-sept d'hécatombes marqué"..., which ends with this line: "Guerre inhumaine, ô, las! des hommes adulée". The poem is written in blue ink, signed "Maurice Utrillo V, Artiste, Peintre, Paysagiste français", and dated "Paris, le jeudi 21 Juin 1923". It is headed by a letter to Richard Chaudois, dated December 25, 1923. The title is calligraphed in black and red gouache, with the subtitle Poême Héroïque in red. At the head, a gouache drawing of a French flag emerging from black smoke.