Zdenko Rus was born in Karlovac in 1941. He went to elementary school in Čeminac in Baranja, and high school in Osijek. In 1961 he moved to Zagreb, and took a BA (art history) and philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy. From the beginning he was drawn to painting as well as pure philosophy. For some years he was good friends with Veselko Tenžera, with whom he shared a dormitory room. He taught aesthetics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, ran a regular radio programme, had a regular column in Oko and from 1974 on his regular employment was in the Modern Gallery in Zagreb, where he was manager of the 19th and 20th century Prints Collection.
He is author or joint author of some 40 exhibitions, displays, catalogues and conceptions of exhibitions of contemporary Croatian art and of two monographs- Marijana Muljević (1985) and Đuro Seder (1996). He wrote the book Abstract Art in Croatia, Painting, existence, abstraction (1985). He has regularly published art criticism, reviews, essays and studies in specialised journals, in weeklies and in the daily press, as well as on radio and television. He has had conversations, interviews and polemical discussions with well-known painters, taken part in many symposia and round tables, written encyclopaedia entries for the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographic Institute.
He wrote the screenplays for and gave expert assistance to several films about Croatian artists.
He is a member of numerous artistic councils, editorial assessment committees and professional committees. He has provided his expertise on several occasions - the Syndrome of the early works of Josip Račić: J. Račić: Irises in Vase and Kraljević Painterly Code.
He won the Seven Secretaries Prize for Culture.

NB. Data taken from the questionnaire, material taken from the Personnel Archives of the MDC, and from an interview recorded on March 22, 2005.