However, even that new history will depend, I believe, on fine distinctions. The art historian may never outgrow the old-fashioned role of connoisseur. The notion of the individual in art serves more than corporate collectors. It gives deserving attention to the concreteness of lived experience. Too often, a numbing mass spectacle cannot.
Good art trains audiences to look.
The facts that distinguish individual artists also help to generate shifting but precise memories in the trained mind. Those images are essential, whether one sees art as inspiration or as critique. Unfortunately, the Met's insistence on genius is just as much an evasion. The dirty details of art also extend to its engagement with its time. Note that Benjamin too posits a rigid distinction between high art and reproducible forms, if only to elevate the latter.