August Vandekerkhove
Who was August Vandekerkhove?
Painter (1838-1923)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on August Vandekerkhove (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
August Vandekerkhove was born on October 15, 1838, in Kanegem, Belgium, and died on March 24, 1923, in Mâcon, France. He was a Belgian painter, writer, playwright, and inventor who delved into many intellectual and artistic areas throughout his life. He is perhaps best known in esoteric and occult circles for starting a philosophical movement he called Cosmosofie, or Cosmosophy, which he set up as the opposite of Theosophy, the spiritual movement popularized by Helena Blavatsky in the late 1800s. Vandekerkhove used the pseudonym S.U.Zanne consistently in his writings across various European magazines and papers.
He contributed to many publications during the late 1800s and early 1900s, such as La Fronde, La Lumière, Borderland, L'Initiation, La Solidarité Mondiale, La Haute Science, Annales Initiatiques, Petit Journal, and L'Action Féministe. His writings in L'Action Féministe place him among the early male voices involved in advocating for women's rights in French-language media, which was fairly unusual for men of his time and background. His works covered spiritualist, philosophical, and social topics, capturing the restlessness and explorative spirit of the era he lived in.
One of Vandekerkhove's most noteworthy contributions is his early use of the term 'the Age of Aquarius.' In late February 1890, he mentioned the concept in the French magazine La Fronde, making it one of the earliest known uses of the term. The Age of Aquarius is linked to the astrological belief that the March equinox point is moving from the constellation Pisces to Aquarius, signaling a new era in human civilization. His use of this term predates its widespread fame by many years.
As a painter, Vandekerkhove continued his work in the visual arts alongside his literary and philosophical pursuits, though detailed records of his artistic work and any exhibitions are not well-documented. His ability to engage in both visual art and writing was part of a larger European tradition of exploring art, science, and spirituality that thrived during the Belle Époque period. He spent his later years in Mâcon, France, where he died at age 84. He is buried in the cemetery of Flacé on rue Ambroise Paré in Mâcon, where a small gathering still takes place each year on Palm Sunday afternoon to remember him.
Before Fame
Vandekerkhove was born in Kanegem, a small municipality in the West Flanders region of Belgium, in 1838. The mid-nineteenth century in Belgium was a time of big cultural and political changes, as the young nation, independent only since 1830, was building its own artistic and intellectual institutions. Cross-border French-language culture was important, especially for educated Belgians who were involved with Parisian intellectual life. We don't have full details of Vandekerkhove's early education and training as a painter, but his later fluency in French-language publishing and involvement with Parisian periodicals suggest he built strong ties to French cultural circles early in his adult life.
His rise to prominence seems to have been influenced by the lively occultist and spiritualist movements of the 1880s and 1890s, a time when organizations like the Theosophical Society gained lots of attention across Europe. In response to Theosophy, Vandekerkhove developed his own philosophical framework, Cosmosophy, making a name for himself as an independent thinker in the crowded scene of late-19th-century esotericism. By using the pseudonym S.U.Zanne, he could publish freely in a variety of magazines and connect with feminist, spiritualist, and philosophical audiences all at once.
Key Achievements
- Founded the philosophical movement Cosmosophy as a counter-position to Theosophy
- Among the first writers to use the phrase 'the Age of Aquarius' in print, in La Fronde in February 1890
- Published extensively in major French-language esoteric, spiritualist, and feminist periodicals of the Belle Époque
- Contributed to early feminist discourse through writing in publications such as L'Action Féministe
- Maintained a dual career as a visual artist and prolific philosophical writer across more than four decades
Did You Know?
- 01.Vandekerkhove wrote under the pseudonym S.U.Zanne, a playful phonetic rendering of the name Suzanne.
- 02.He is credited with one of the earliest known published uses of the phrase 'the Age of Aquarius,' appearing in the French magazine La Fronde in late February 1890.
- 03.Each year on Palm Sunday afternoon at 5 PM, people gather at his grave in the cemetery of Flacé in Mâcon to commemorate him, a tradition that has continued long after his death.
- 04.He founded a philosophical movement called Cosmosophy, which he defined explicitly as the antithesis of Theosophy, the influential spiritual doctrine of the era.
- 05.Despite being Belgian and writing in Flemish cultural contexts, the majority of his published work appeared in French-language European periodicals, including feminist outlets such as L'Action Féministe.