Elena Cvetkova, veteran art critic and journalist, dies aged 91
Born in Skopje in 1936, she spent four decades as the cultural voice of Večernji list and interviewed top artists across the former Yugoslavia.
Elena Cvetkova, a prominent voice in Balkan cultural journalism for decades, has died in Zagreb at the age of 91. Born in Skopje on 23 March 1936, she became known across the former Yugoslavia for in-depth interviews and essays devoted to visual arts.
Cvetkova graduated in 1960 with a degree in art history from the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and began her journalistic career as a correspondent for Radio Skopje, maintaining a lasting connection to her native Macedonia throughout her life.
Four decades at Večernji list
After work with the daily Vjesnik, her professional home from 1962 until her retirement in 2000 was the Croatian newspaper Večernji list. There she wrote a long-running, widely read cultural column that featured extended conversations with many of the region's leading artists.
Among the cultural figures who passed through her pages were:
- Edo Murtić
- Vojin Bakić
- Krsto Hegedušić
- Oskar Herman
- Miljenko Stančić
- Frano Kršinić
- Mirena Lah
- Marija Ujević-Galetović
Her work was recognised with several state and professional honours: the Order of Merit for the People with Silver Star in 1978; the Order of Danica Hrvatska with the image of Marko Marulić in 1998; and in 2009 a Special Charter from the Croatian Society of Art Historians signed by academician Tonko Maroević.
Colleagues and members of the professional community paid tribute to her contribution to cultural life, describing Cvetkova as "an art historian by education, a journalist by vocation, and a visual art critic by her true life calling."
Photo: press material from the event
