Prof. Zvonko Maković was born in Budrovci 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 19th-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 Art History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb. He was elected assistant professor in 1998, associate professor in 2004 and full professor in 2008. He retired in 2012.
In 2002–2006 he headed the project 19th and 20th Century Croatian Art within the European Context (funded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Spots of the Republic of Croatia), and in 2010–2011 bilateral Croato-Serbian project Croatian and Serbian Artistic Connections in the 19th and 20th Centuries (in cooperation with Prof. L. Merenik). From 2007 to 2013 he headed the project Croatian Art from Classicism to Post-modernism (financed by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia) within which he studied artistic oeuvres and key developments in 20th-century Croatian art.
Prof. Maković went on numerous research visits in Austria, Italy, Germany and France. From 2000 to 2002, he was Head of the Art History Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University in Zagreb. Before his retirement, he was Chair of Modern History and Visual Communication and in charge of the part of the art history doctoral programme dealing with 19th and 20th-century art within the department. He was also in charge of the doctoral programme in modern art as part of the postgraduate studies of the Department of the Croatian Language and Literature at the same faculty. He taught at the Academy of Fine Arts and Music Academy in Zagreb, and at the Faculty for Translators and Interpreters, University of Trieste, Art Academy in Sarajevo and the UDG Art Faculty in Podgorica, Montenegro.
He published monographs on numerous Croatian artists (M. Šutej, 1981 and 2015; Lj. Ivančić, 1996; E. Murtić, 2000; J. Knifer, 2002; N. Reiser, 2005) and developments in 20th-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 in addition to scientific and professional papers and art critiques, he also publishes texts in newspapers in which he attempts to defend the dignity of art history as a profession. A selection of these works were published in Reports on the Condition (2004) and Letters to Bertold Brecht (2002). He participated in a number of scientific conferences and held public lectures.
In 2001, he was Commissioner for Croatia’s national representation at the 49th Venice biennale. He curated numerous retrospective exhibitions of modern and contemporary Croatian artists (M. Kraljević, V. Gecan, M. Uzelac, M. Trepše, Lj. Ivančić, I. Job, V. Lipovac etc.) and organized various group exhibitions (Postsculpture, 2005; Tabula Rasa: Primary and Analytic in Croatian Art, 2013). He 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), Journey to Eternity (2016), etc. He also co-authored texts for exhibitions (From Klović and Rembrandt to Warhol and Picelj (2009) and Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem – Sources of European Civilisation (2009).
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. Currently he is the president of the DPUH (Croatian Society of Art Historians). He is member of DPUH, AICA and PEN.
Zvonko Maković, PhD, Full professor; director, Croatian society of art historians, Zagreb
For full bibliography go to: https://bib.irb.hr/lista-radova?autor=27533
Contact: zvonkomakovic@gmail.com