Johannes ten Klooster was born in Kudus, Java on August 7, 1873, the son of a Javanese/Chinese mother and Dutch father.  He was educated in the Netherlands and joined the Dutch army in 1891.  He served between 1897 and 1914 as a sergeant in Indonesia - Java, Sumatra and New Guinea.  He had married Emilie Gerrits in Sumatra in 1903 and they had 3 children.  After returning to the Netherlands and retiring in 1919 he began his pursuit of his passion, art.  He was fascinated by Japanese and Chinese woodcuts and paintings and decided to do woodcuts of some of the drawings he had done in Indonesia. These were apparently printed as sold and not really editioned.  

He exhibited in 1919 with Redon and Kokoschka and showed in Germany and the Hague.  Ten Klooster died in Vere, the Netherlands on February 15, 1940.