Appreciator of pictures in East sitting in class (8)
I believe the answer is:
cineaste
'appreciator of pictures' is the definition.
(a cineaste is someone fond of film or cinema)
'in east sitting in class' is the wordplay.
'east' becomes 'e' (synonyms).
'sitting in' is an insertion indicator.
'class' becomes 'caste' (type of social class).
'in'+'e'='ine'
'ine' placed into 'caste' is 'CINEASTE'.
(Other definitions for cineaste that I've seen before include "Film buff" , "Movie buff -- tie canes (anag)" , "One sees lots of pictures" , "One often seen at film" .)