Martin Erich Philipp was a German painter, printmaker and illustrator renowned for his refined woodcuts and etchings, often signed with the monogram MEPH. He grew up in Zwickau, a small city south of Leipzig in Saxony, and pursued art studies at the Dresden Kunstgewerbeschule from 1904 to 1908 and then at the Dresden Kunstakademie from 1908 to 1913, where he was taught by artists including Richard Müller, Osmar Schindler, Oskar Zwintscher and Gotthardt Kuehl.

Philipp began his freelance career in Dresden in 1913, his early work being influenced by Jugendstil, Art Nouveau and Japonism, evident in his elegant compositions and stylised forms. He gained recognition for his colour woodcuts depicting animals, particularly exotic birds and floral subjects. In addition to woodcuts, Philipp produced numerous etchings and drypoints, including a number of important commissions to illustrate literary classics such as Friedrich von Schlegel’s Lucinde and Heinrich Heine's Die Bäder von Lucca.

Philipp’s work was featured in several exhibitions, including the Große Buch- und Kunstausstellung in Leipzig in 1914, the Sächsische Kunstausstellung in Dresden in 1934, and the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung in Munich in 1941. In 1914 he was awarded the Sächsische Staatsmedaille für Graphik for his contributions to graphic art.

Philipp married fellow artist Else Stap in 1925, and they had a daughter in 1927. He lived and worked in the Dölzschen district of Dresden until his death.