Curated × Christie's — a preferred-partner proposal

Where this starts

Between friends who started in the same place.

This isn't a cold pitch from a house you don't know. It's a proposal between people who share a history, a city, and a taste for the same things: the paintings, the travel, the long conversations about a canvas nobody else noticed.

"Love to connect some time." — how the first note began, May 2026

Steve reached out over a shared appreciation of Laura's career and the work she moves. Charles came into the conversation as the owner of Curated. What became clear quickly is how much overlap there is: a start at NYU, years spent looking at and living with art, and a shared pull toward Europe, where so much of the 19th-century work Laura specializes in was made and still travels.

That common ground is the whole point. A preferred partnership only works when there's trust behind it. This one already has it.

In common

NYU

A shared start, and the network and eye that come with it.

In common

A love of art

Not a transaction. The work itself is why everyone's here.

In common

Europe

New York, Paris, London — the routes the paintings themselves travel.

The opportunity

A great specialist sees more fine work than one calendar can hold.

Between New York, Paris, and London sales, single-owner consignments, and a steady flow of 19th-century European paintings, there's always more than fits a given catalog. Timing, sale strategy, house thresholds, and estate deadlines all mean good works get held back, deferred, or don't quite fit the marquee moment.

Those works still deserve the right buyer and a graceful sale, not a shelf in storage waiting for next season. That's the gap a preferred partner fills: a trusted, discreet second home for the overflow, handled with the same care and the same standards, without competing for the lots Christie's wants to keep.

The relationship is simple. Laura keeps the marquee. Curated takes the overflow she chooses to route, places it well, and makes her look good for the referral every time.

The tradition we both work in

Bouguereau, The Birth of Venus, 1879

Gérôme, The Carpet Merchant, c. 1887

Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818

Shown for period reference. Public-domain works, not consignments.

Why Curated

A house built for exactly this kind of work.

Curated Gallery & Auctions is a Brooklyn gallery and auction house that lives at the level where relationships and discretion matter more than volume. That's the right home for a specialist's overflow.

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A real specialist audience

An engaged base of collectors and buyers who come to Curated specifically for fine paintings and objects, so 19th-century European work meets people who actually want it.

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Hands-on and discreet

Small enough to give every consignment personal attention and a discreet sale, large enough to run a proper auction and gallery placement. Nothing gets lost in the machine.

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A bridge, not a rival

Curated isn't chasing Christie's marquee lots. It's the trusted release valve for the works that don't fit the house calendar, handled to the same standard.

And Steve is the connective tissue. Business development is the job: finding the right home for a work, earning the relationship, keeping the communication warm and the terms clean. He makes the partnership run so the art moves and everyone's reputation grows.

How the partnership works

Preferred partner, on Laura's terms.

Nothing about this is heavy. It's a standing, trusted channel Laura can use whenever a fine work needs a second home, with clear terms and no obligation to route anything she'd rather keep.

Laura flags the overflow

A work that doesn't fit the current sale, an estate on a deadline, a consignment better placed elsewhere. Laura decides what, if anything, to route. Full discretion, always.

Curated evaluates with care

Charles and Steve assess fit, audience, and the best path — gallery placement or auction — and come back quickly with a clear, honest read on what Curated can do for the piece.

A clean, discreet sale

Curated handles the placement to the same standard the work is used to, with transparent terms agreed up front and communication kept warm through the whole process.

Everyone looks good

The work finds the right buyer, Laura's referral is rewarded, and the relationship compounds. Every good placement makes the next handoff easier.

Terms and any referral arrangement get set together, plainly, before anything moves. The goal is a channel so easy and so trustworthy that routing the overflow to Curated is the obvious call.

The people

Three people who already speak the same language.

A partnership is only as good as the people behind it. Here, the trust is already there.

Curated · Business development

Steve Coulton

Working in the fine-art auction business with Curated and based in Buffalo, Steve is the relationship and business-development engine behind the partnership. Founder of Coulton Ventures, he spends his days doing exactly what this channel needs: finding the right home for the right work, earning trust, and keeping every handoff warm and clean. He's the one who makes sure the art moves and the partnership stays easy.

Curated Gallery & Auctions · Owner

Charles Johnson

Owner of Curated Gallery & Auctions in Brooklyn, Charles brings the house, the audience, and the standards. His gallery and auction operation is built for fine paintings and objects handled with real care, which makes it the right second home for a specialist's overflow. The credibility and the room where the work actually sells.

Christie's · 19th-century European paintings

Laura Mathis

A specialist in 19th-century European paintings, Laura works across the New York, Paris, and London sales and sees a volume of fine work no single calendar can absorb. This proposal exists to give her a trusted, discreet outlet for the overflow — one that reflects well on her every time and keeps the great works moving to the right hands.

Where we go next

We're already moving. Here's the plan in writing.

We talked it through on the 9th and agreed it's worth building. This page just puts it on paper: Curated as your preferred, discreet home for the 19th-century European work that overflows the house, on terms we set together. From here it's simply picking the first piece and a time to sort the details. Between friends who share NYU, a love of the work, and Europe, this one should be a pleasure.

Visit Curated Gallery & Auctions

Curated Gallery & Auctions

Steve Coulton · Business development nycgolf@gmail.com

Charles Johnson · Owner charles@curatedgallery.com

Curated Gallery & Auctions curatedgalleryauctions.com