Jay Maisel is a photographer known both for his photographs as well as his residence at the Germania Bank Building, which he bought in 1966 for $102,000, or just under $750,000 in today’s money. His purchase is said to be New York best real estate deal, with the improvement of the neighborhood and scarcity of New York real estate, the building is valued at close to $50 million. He renovated the interior to make the top two floors a living area for his family and the lower three floors a studio and storage for his art.
Maisel has photographed many celebrities and magazine covers and has been awarded numerous photography honors. But one of his most well known pieces is the cover of Miles Davis’ 1959 album, “Kind of Blue.” Fifty years later, entrepreneur and blogger Andy Baio produced “Kind of Bloop,” a synthesized electronic version of Davis’ album with a pixelated version of Maisel’s original piece on the cover. While a wonderful project and idea, there was some controversy: Baio secured all the rights to the music, he overlooked securing the rights to the cover photo and ended up paying $32,500 in an out-of-court settlement to Maisel.
| 1966 | Purchased the Germania Bank Building for $102,000 |
| article | Faded and Blurred - It's About the Work: Jay Maisel |
| article | Waxy.org Blog: Kind of Screwed |
| internal | Jay Maisel - Wiki |
| internal | gDoc |