Heinz Zander was born in 1939 in Wolfen near Bitterfeld (Saxony-Anhalt). From 1959 to 1964 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig under Bernhard Heisig. From 1967 to 1970 he was a master student for graphic art of Fritz Cremer at the German Academy of Arts in East Berlin before returning to Leipzig, where he lives and works to this day.