Charles M. Kurtz (1855 – 21 March 1909) was an American art critic, writer, and museum curator. He was born in 1855 to Davis Brook Kurtz and Julia Wilder. The family's ancestry was traceable to Darmstadt, Germany. He and his 4 siblings grew up in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in 1876. He then studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City, later earning an M.A. from Washington & Jefferson in 1878. In 1881 he published the first edition of the National Academy Notes. He married Julia Stephenson in 1885, and they had 3 daughters.