Portraits Of Jennie By Yasushi Rikitake.108 -

Please note: Yasushi Rikitake is a contemporary Japanese composer known for lyrical, programmatic works for concert band and chamber ensembles. “Portraits of Jennie” is one of his most evocative works, inspired by the classic 1948 fantasy film Portrait of Jennie (directed by William Dieterle, based on the novel by Robert Nathan).

1. The "Half-Veil" Opacity

Unlike sharper digital portraits, .108 employs what fans call "lacunar blur"—a technique where the subject’s face is 70% resolved, with the left eye (always the left) dissolving into negative space. Jennie’s gaze in this portrait is not meeting yours; it is looking slightly past, over your right shoulder, toward something that does not exist in the room. This mimics the film’s time-displaced heroine. Portraits Of Jennie By Yasushi Rikitake.108

2. The Vermilion Echo

Rikitake avoids primary colors in most of his work, but in .108, he allows a single, shocking stroke of vermilion on the lower lip. Not painted on the lip, but bleeding off of it. Art historians have compared this to the "ukiyo-e" tradition of printing imperfections, where a misplaced registration block becomes an emotional cue. Here, the bleeding lip suggests a woman who has just spoken—or just been kissed in a different century. Please note: Yasushi Rikitake is a contemporary Japanese

3. The Source of Inspiration: Portrait of Jennie (1948)

The story follows an artist, Eben Adams, who meets a mysterious young girl named Jennie Appleton in Central Park. As their encounters continue, Jennie ages and matures rapidly, suggesting she is a ghost or a figure existing outside normal time. The tale explores themes of: “Portraits of Jennie” (plural)

Rikitake’s title, “Portraits of Jennie” (plural), suggests he focuses not just on her character but on multiple emotional and temporal snapshots of her existence.