Prof. Zvonko Maković was born in 1947. He graduated in Art History and Comparative Literature from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb in 1973. He obtained his MA degree in 1982 (thesis entitled Popular Printed Image in 19^th-Century Croatia) and his PhD degree in 1996 (dissertation entitled Painting of Vilko Gecan). From May 1975 he was employed as research and teaching assistant at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb. He was elected assistant professor in 1998, associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2008. He retired in 2012.

Since 2007 he has headed the project Croatian Art from Classicism to Postmodernism (financed by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sport) within which he researches artistic oeuvres and key developments in 20^th-century Croatian art. In 2002-2006 he headed the project Croatian Art of the 19^th and 20^th Centuries in the European Context (funded by the Ministry), and in 2010-2011 bilateral project Croatian and Serbian Artistic Connections in the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th Centuries (in cooperation with Prof. L. Merenik from Belgrade).

Prof. Maković went on numerous research visits in Austria, Italy, Germany and France. In 2000-02 he was Head of the Department of Art History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb and in 1996-2012 Chair of Modern History and Visual Communication and in charge of the part of the art history doctoral programme dealing with 19^th and 20^th-century art within the department. He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts, Music Academy in Zagreb, at the University of Trieste, Art Academy in Sarajevo and the UDG Art Faculty in Podgorica, Montenegro. He published texts on numerous Croatian artists (M. Šutej, 1981; Lj. Ivančić, 1996; E. Murtić, 2000; J. Knifer, 2002; N. Reiser, 2005) and developments in 20^th-century art in Croatia some of which were published in collection of papers Notes from an Exhibition. Studies and Essays on Fine Arts (2004), Dimensions of Painting. Texts on Contemporary Art (2005),Faces: Alternative History of Modern Art (2007).He was editor of newspapers and magazines and participated in a number of scientific conferences and held public lectures.

In 2001 he was Commissioner for Croatia’s national representation at the 49^th Venice biennale. He curated numerous exhibitions (M. Kraljević, V. Gecan, M. Uzelac, etc.) and initiated and headed important exhibition and cultural projects (Croatian Art in the 1950s (2004), Avant-garde Tendencies in Croatian Art (2007), Expressionism in Croatia (2011), etc.). He also co-authored texts for exhibitions (From Klović and Rembrandt to Warhol and Picelj, 2009; Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem – Sources of European Civilisation, 2009 etc.).

From 2001 to 2003 he was a member of the Ministry of Culture’s Fine Arts Council, and from 2009 to 2013 he served as Culture Committee member of the City of Zagreb’s Assembly.