Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (/ˌvæsɪli kænˈdɪnski/; Russian: Василий Васильевич Кандинский, tr. Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, was an avant-garde painter and some say art theorist. He and Franz Marc founded the Blaue Reiter expressionistic painting movement. He was also a teacher at the Bauhaus from 1922 on and its deputy director from 1923 until 1933. He was already an established artist (having held a teaching position at the famous VChUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Workshops) and was the director of the MSchK (Museum of Painting-Culture) in Moscow by the time he reached the Bauhaus, and was one more reason for students to study there. Numerous photos of the director and his deputy show Kandinsky’s importance to Gropius.