Below are excerpts from reviews of Bauhaus Textiles - Women Artists and the Weaving Workshop, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 1993 and 1998

• American Craft (June/July 1994) "It is no secret that the Bauhaus, the celebrated German design school that  operated from 1919 through 1933, was a man's world, or that most of its brilliant women labored in the relative obscurity of the weaving workshop. But until now, no one has presented the issues so compellingly. Sigrid Wortmann Weltge's  book is a stunning achievement at every level: scholarly, compassionate, balanced and (most unusual for Bauhaus books) concise and a great read. There is nothing like it in print.  ........ Finally, the back of the book, as valuable in its way as the text, includes meticulous notes on each chapter, biographies of all the leading personalities (their places in the movement and their relationships to one another), and a comprehensive bibliography. Weltge has digested it all, synthesized the familiar material briskly, brought many new facts to light and offered fresh insights. Because of the scope of her scholarship and the clarity of its exposition (this book) is to be recommended as an excellent first text on the Bauhaus for the novice, as well as a fascinating and long-overdue addition to the professional's library." (Judith Pearlman)
  
• American Library Association Choice (February 1994) "..... this excellent publication is the story of the women who shaped the direction of the workshop and their accomplishments....This book is the first to provide a broad survey of the changing circumstances of the Weavers Workshop.... The author chronicles the ups, downs, conflicts, and personalities of the studio within the context of overall Bauhaus circumstances." (J. J. Poesch)
  
• Art Documentation (Summer 1994) ... is a thoroughly researched and well-written account of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop. ...Weltge also documents the artists who fled Germany as the political situation there worsened. ..... The book features an extensive bibliography, a chronology, biographies of the weavers, a detailed index and meticulous footnoting. Weltge interviewed many individuals and made extensive use of archival material, unearthing information not easily found elsewhere. The illustrations shine.... This publication focuses on a notable facet of the Bauhaus and is highly recommended for academic, museum, and large public library collections serving a broad array of interests, including art history, art education, textiles, design and women studies. It should not be overlooked." (Nina Stephenson)
  
• Boston Globe (December 5, 1993) (this book) "....proves that women weavers at the Bauhaus - where art hierarchy was supposed to be erased but wasn't - created some of the most sophisticated abstractions of the 20th century."
• Crafts (March/April 1994) "Bauhaus Textiles is a book that was waiting to be written. On one level the Bauhaus is 'over exposed': the history of the school mirrors the triumphs and tragedies of Modernism, so that its chroniclers have been numerous, and most have attempted to deal with the whole, rather than its parts. Sigrid Wortmann Weltge, however, concentrates on the Weaving Workshop, and this choice enables her not only to consider the work of a single department within the context of the whole school's day to day activities, but also to confront much wider issues, such as the role of women within the school, as well as the impact on the workshops of changing attitudes to art, technology and production. The dark shadow of economic uncertainty, and the even darker shadow of  Nazi mayhem, is naturally all-pervading. The result is surely a major contribution to the complex history of twentieth-century design and craft: the book is about textiles, but it is also about individuals and idealism, designing and making, art and industry, and what was generally considered to be 'women's work' within the male dominated constructs of Modernism..... Sigrid Wortmann Weltge is convincing because she writes from within the subject..... She understands the techniques of producing woven textiles, she can place the aesthetic achievements in context as well as the technical ones, and she also relates the work to the wider historical context. The illustrations (with their informative captions) are a revelation. This is a book which does justice to its subject." (Gillian Naylor)
  
• Christian Science Monitor (December 14, 1993)  ".... what is most valuable about this book, apart from its important documentary purpose, is that Weltge follows all the strands of the weavers' lives - from the dissolution of the Bauhaus under pressure from the Nazis to the arrival in the US of many experienced weavers. ...... Of the actual weavings that remain, Weltge has collected a number of dramatic examples that show just what the weavers accomplished. The color plates reveal the tonal and structural understanding these women possessed. Clearly, the author has set the record straight. Bauhaus weaving stands proudly with the achievements of 20th century art." (April Austin)
  
• Dress - The Journal of the Costume Society of America (1994)  "Like so much else in the recent studies of women's endeavor, this book addresses a long-ignored part of an otherwise familiar history. The brilliance of the Bauhaus and its design pioneers has been, up to now, virtually all-male brilliance. Many authors have written about the extraordinary men who appeared between the wars in Germany to lead the transformation from traditional to pure abstract design, to create the look of the twentieth century. Sigrid Wortmann Weltge has introduced us to the women who were there too, active at the same time even if relegated to the secondary sphere of textiles, and up until now virtually unknown. She has shown us the entire framework under which they struggled for recognition in that strongly masculine time, place and atmosphere. Her book is a history of women's talent and perseverance. As such it parallels the unfolding achievements of women in other fields, and is a most welcome addition. .... It has occurred to me that only someone with Weltge's background, as a German who looks to her own country's proud heritage in the midst of its worst history, as an art historian involved with textiles, and who has full command of more than one language, could do justice to this book. As a final note, Weltge mentions that Lilly Reich would make a fascinating subject of a deeper study than has ever been done on her life. With this book completed, I hope she writes that one, too." (Patricia Campbell Warner)
  
• Fiberarts (November/December 1993) "Clearly written and beautifully illustrated, this is truly an inspiring book".
• L.A. Architect (December/January 1993/4) "Weltge spotlights individuals as well as the group, and shows that their textiles rivaled anything their male colleagues produced, in beauty and daring."
• Publishers Weekly (October 1993) "Beautifully written and illustrated, this study unearths a major chapter in Bauhaus history".
• Surface Design Journal (Winter 1995) "With many primary sources still available for interviews to supplement and correct existing accounts, Weltge, an art historian, presents a sharply etched, well-rounded portrait of an institution in its own time and as a continuing influence; more precisely, she tells the story of an overlooked segment of the visionary people whose ideas and passions created, within a mere fourteen years, the pre-eminent phenomenon in the history of 20th century design".
• The Times Literary Supplement (September 4, 1998) reviewed the new paperback edition and concluded: "Wortmann Weltge understands the processes as well as the ideologies of textile art and design, so that her book is not only a vital contribution to Bauhaus scholarship, it is also a narrative of defiance".
• The Women's Review of Books (February 1994) "...an extremely handsome book with brilliant color plates and extensive technical information.   ....one of the first studies to treat women textile designers and weavers from the Bauhaus in a serious way. Weltge introduced a broad range of women artists, intellectuals and patrons who pushed the agenda of the Weaving Workshop, often against the opposition of the leadership of the Bauhaus proper. In the process she reveals the gender conflict in the institutional practice of the Bauhaus and the attitudes of masters and some students on the limits of both textile design and women artists."
• Welcomat (December 8, 1993) "A beautiful, informative, and unabashedly inspiring book, unique among the scores of studies of the century's most important design academies, the Bauhaus, or the equal profusion of books about the luminaries who taught there.  ...One does not have to be adept in modern design, or to have any special interest in it, to appreciate this stirring book--nor does one have to be either a feminist (whatever that means) or a weaver..... Bauhaus Textiles is that rarity: a design book not only readable, but compelling." (Peter Ross)
  
• Woman's Art Journal (Summer 1997) "... a lucid account of the Weaving Workshop and a good introduction to the work of many unknown Bauhaus weavers. .... Weltge's study fills an important gap in Bauhaus history. It provides a wealth of new information, including more than 100 beautiful color reproductions that relate to the text, rare photographs of the weavers in their workshop and biographical annotations on many Bauhaus women weavers and their students. Her skillful blending of biographical information with discussions of weaving techniques, combined with why and how the Weaving Workshop evolved, make this a welcome and useful study."
• Women Artists News Book Review. (Fall 1995) "Sigrid Wortmann Weltge's sources are legion and international: college and museum archives, exhibition notes and catalogues, and books and articles about the Bauhaus. Her discussion is organized; her style, straightforward. Compelling insights about relationships, the times, and individual contributions come from personal interviews with and articles and books by members of the Bauhaus..."
• World of Interiors (September 1998) ".... an impressive achievement". (Frank Whitford)

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