Modern antiques

This week I went to an exhibit called Vienna 1900 at the Neue Galerie in New York city. It was the era of Freud and the exhibit included a reproduction of his patients' couch. This was an ordinary chaise lounge with an Oriental carpet draped over it. What struck me most were the streamlined pieces of furniture that could easily be displayed as contemporary in a furniture store over 100 years later. In particular, an armoire by an architect named Otto Wagner looks exactly like those found in very modern hotels. It has no decoration, simply flat, functional surfaces. Another piece that would be classified as contemporary in 2011 was a grandfather clock all of whose sides were glass.

Some questions arise: why have these designs lasted for so long in some quarters, but why are they also avoided in favor of copies of early American, Victorian, Louis XIV, etc. in other quarters?