Biden’s Foreign Gifts: Angolan Art, Czech Sculptures, & Reporting Rules

A 2024 report details gifts received by US officials, including President Biden's Angolan Marimba painting and other art from foreign leaders. Federal employees must report gifts over $480, typically transferring them to national archives or compensating the Treasury.

One of the most current report, which covers 2024, revealed that Biden was talented the painting, titled Marimba, by Augusto Guizef Guilherme, a self-taught Angolan painter. According to AfriKin, a Miami-based nonprofit that advertises contemporary African and diasporic art, Guilherme’s work “celebrates the social splendor of Africa” and has been consisted of in international events in Zurich, Lisbon, and Miami.

Other Notable Gifts to US Officials

Various other art work received by Biden included a $3,300 sculpture of a winged female from the head of state of Iraq; $3,300 in photos and artwork from the Head of state of the Czech Republic, $3,000 in sculpture, pictures, posters, and publications from the Head of state of France. Previous Vice President Kamala Harris obtained a $1,440 ceramic dish from the initial girl of South Korea, and a $1,460 paint from Ukrainian Head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The report, published each year, details presents provided to the head of state, their spouse, participants of the cabinet, and various other senior officals by foreign leaders and governments. Federal employees are needed to report such gifts, if they are worth more than $480. Normally, those gifts are then transferred to the National Archives or the General Servies Management, unless the recipient chooses to compensate the United States Treasury for them.

“It’s the natural beauty that rural African ladies posses that produces a feeling of obligation to the forefathers as they have actually left a heritage and footprint that is essential to be boosted and celebrated,” Guilherme wrote in an artist declaration published to the web site of North Waveland, a musician cumulative.