Except that broadest appeal does not care, or used to not care. Art is always wasted space in a book, like the tiny dragon earlier, or cover art, as someone said was meant to "attract".
For the most part, the black girl flying with glasses and magic circles around her was a good piece of art. Think that was another thread about PHB art leak?
But what does that art offer? A PC example? There should be no PC examples. Weapon art, monster art, fine. If people need the PC examples for races, they should be on the PHB cover. But then you will run into, "Why is the wizard a slim young attractive black girl, can Asian looking old overweight men not be wizards?"
Art is always a problem when it highlights only one group. So either you look at the art and think, well an old white guy drew himself here, or you have to increase the cost of the book and depict all nationalities of humans as all classes, each in full page color art. That would be over 300 pages of full color art so where is the room left for the rules in the book?
I have always thought the art should just be filler where you had more page than text, if it was not like a diagram showing something like how a kobold and goblin look different.
Also, to remake something to rewrite it for a few new people, is sanitization of art, drawn and written. Anyone can ignore tye draw art and written art, read lore, in a game and just insert tueir own choices.